Mystics Visionaries and Prophets [Hardcover]

Shawn Madigan C.S.J (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1998

Winner of Catholic Press Association Book-of-the-Year Award-Spirituality Unique in its range and depth, this lavish anthology for the first time captures in a single volume the most notable spiritual writings of leading women from all periods of Christian history. Because spirituality involves more than simply prayer and piety, Madigan has selected women whose quests for intimacy with God also involves some visionary experience or social witness. Ranging from Perpetua in the third century to Mother Teresa and Edwina Gately in this century, her volume includes writings from both European women and, in the modern period, Asian, American, and African American women. Apart from redressing the heavy gender imbalance of most histories of Christianity, this volume also provides strong historical introductions to and bibliographies of the twenty-six women whose writings are generously excerpted. Women included in this volume are: Perpetua the Martyr Pelagia the Actress Brigit of Ireland Balthild the Queen of Neustria Dhuoda of Septimania Hildegard of Bingen Heloise Mechthild of Magdeburg Gertrude the Great Hadewijch Julian of Norwich Catherine of Siena Margery Kempe Teresa of Avila Jane Frances de Chantal Sojourner Truth Maria Stewart Gabrielle Bossis Dorothy Day Caryll Houselander Pauli Murray Laura Lopez Silvia Maribel Arriola Mother Teresa Cho Wha Soon Mercy Amba Oduyoye Edwina Gately

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Shawn Madigan, C.S.J., is Professor of Theology and Christian Spirituality at the College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From the Foreword: Dr. Madigan has brought together translations of spiritual writings from the church of the martyrs to twentieth-century Uganda. Her work has made further material available for growth into the 'art of arts and science of sciences,' namely, praying always. That the works are all by women or about women draws attention to the contribution women have always made to Christian spirituality.

From the Foreword: There are as many texts about the union of holy persons with God as there are texts about the ways in which human beings relate to each other. Among believers and unbelievers alike today, knowledge of oneself and others is a central preoccupation. For believers there is a point of enlightenment. Human relationships are seen to be contingent on ---and enlightened by-the mystery of personal relationship to God. The categories we use to order and divide human experience-for example, the gender categories of female and male-take on somewhat new and cohesive meanings in a spiritual realm that perceives all humans as feminine in their relationship to God.

In looking at spiritual writings by women, the intention is not to insist on a special "female spirituality" that somehow excludes men from knowing an intimate God. Rather, the writings of women in this collection are of interest for other reasons. First, they are not known by very many people, so their inclusion here makes them more broadly accessible. Second, the many-sided approach to prayer and communion with Jesus Christ these writings present is of great contemporary interest.

This is not to say that the writings of these women's male contemporaries are of less interest or importance. In a sense, women have more often been the enablers of written texts by men rather than the producers of texts. It is a matter of historical fact that the Roman women who asked Jerome to clarify his explanation of the Scriptures inspired him to do so. A group of Anglo-Saxon nuns found the words of the Canticle of Habakkuk obscure, even though they prayed it weekly in the office of Lauds. They asked Beke to analyze it for them so that they could pray it with understanding. Great women of the eleventh century asked Anselm of Canterbury to provide them with texts that would help them in their main work of prayer.

Such a combination of enabling and producing was not so much a statement about gender potential for union with God as it was about the availability of different kinds of learning. The human categories of male and female had little to do with the essence of communion with God. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote to Hildegard of Bingen, "you are said to be able to search the secrets of heaven and to discern by the light of the Holy Spirit things that are beyond human knowledge" (Letter 390 of Bernard of Clairvaux). Bernard is indicating here that women as well as and men have a potential receptivity to the mysteries of God. The recognition does not, however, imply a difference of function based on gender.

In the present work, Dr, Madigan has brought together translations of spiritual writings from the church of the martyrs to twentieth-century Uganda. In accomplishing this, she has greatly expanded the material that is available for growth into the "art of arts and sciences of sciences," namely, praying always. That the works are all by women or about women draws attention to the contribution women have made down through the centuries to Christian spirituality. Highlighting this role is especially timely in this age when women's involvement in other areas of life-social, legal, and economic-is increasingly stressed.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 502 pages
• Publisher: Fortress Press; First Edition edition (September 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0800631455
• ISBN-13: 978-0800631451
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,025,251 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)