Heterosexual Melancholia and Mysticism in the Early Society of Jesus
In the last decades of the sixteenth century the Society of Jesus prohibited its members the reading of several mystical texts. A theme that cuts across these texts is the use of erotic language to describe the relationship between the soul and God. I argue that what lies behind the prohibition is t...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group
2007
|
| In: |
Theology & sexuality
Year: 2007, Volume: 13, Issue: 2, Pages: 121-135 |
| Further subjects: | B
Spirituality
B heterosexual melancholia B Jesuits |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Electronic
|
| Summary: | In the last decades of the sixteenth century the Society of Jesus prohibited its members the reading of several mystical texts. A theme that cuts across these texts is the use of erotic language to describe the relationship between the soul and God. I argue that what lies behind the prohibition is the fear that desire, especially homoerotic desire, would be a threat to Jesuit identity. I use Judith Butler's concept of heterosexual melancholia to illuminate this episode in Jesuit history. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1745-5170 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Theology & sexuality
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/1355835806074429 |