The Power of Words in Late Medieval Devotional and Mystical Writing

This volume offers a series of essays focusing on the power of words. Contributors address the centrality of language to devotional and mystical experience as well as the attitudes towards language fostered by devotional and mystical practices. The essays are arranged under four subheadings: (1) “Other Words: Figures and Metaphors,” treating the application of the languages of romantic love, medicine, and travel to descriptions of devotional and mystical experience; (2) “Iconic Words: Images and the Name of Jesus,” considering the deployment of words and the Word (Jesus) as powerful images in devotional practice; (3) “Testing Words: Syntax and Semantics,” exploring the ways in which medieval writers stretch the conventions of language to achieve fresh perspectives on devotional and mystical experiences; and (4) “Beyond Words: The Apophatic and The Senses,” offering novel perspectives on a group of texts that address the difficulty of expressing God and visionary experience with words. The volume’s global purpose is to demonstrate the attractions of an explicitly philological approach for scholars studying the Christian tradition.