Brides in the Desert: The Spirituality of the Beguines

Saskia Murk-Jansen

Brides in the Desert: The Spirituality of the Beguines
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Wipf & Stock Publishers
Country
United States
Published
25 August 2004
Pages
136
ISBN
9781592447961

Brides in the Desert: The Spirituality of the Beguines

Saskia Murk-Jansen

The Beguine movement arose in Europe during the thirteenth century and consisted of women living together in chastity and poverty, doing works of Christian charity. Although many of their number were wealthy, this urban phenomenon had no founder, no single rule, and no agreed way of life. The Beguine movement was part of a yearning to democratize religion, and it produced four great writers. Saskia Murk-Jansen, a specialist in medieval women’s mysticism, looks at the lives and works of Beatrijs of Nazareth, Mechtild of Magdeburg, Hadewijch, and Marguerite Porete. These mystics used images, metaphor, and paradox to express the numinous aspect of God. They pioneered vernacular literature and forged theological visions out of their own experience. Their writings provide an invaluable supplement to the work of their male contemporaries. Saskia Murk-Jansen probes the key images in Beguine spirituality including the soul as the bride of God, suffering as an integral part of a relationship with the Holy One, and the desert as a place to focus on the transcendent. In this excellent, balanced treatment, Murk-Jansen clearly outlines the development of the movement, pointing to its influence as well as its repression by church authorities.

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