A hidden wisdom : medieval contemplatives on self-knowledge, reason, love, persons, and immortality / Christina Van Dyke.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dyke, Christina van, 1972- author.

Series:

Oxford Academic.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Christian philosophy--History--To 1500.

Christian philosophy.

Literature, Medieval.

Literature, Medieval--Women authors.

Philosophy, Medieval.

Philosophy, Renaissance.

Immortality.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxviii, 228 pages) : illustrations (black & white)

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Medieval contemplatives on self-knowledge, reason, love, persons, and immortality

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, [2022]

©2022

Summary:

Medieval philosophy is primarily associated today with university-based disputations and the authorities cited in those disputations. In their own time, however, scholastic debates were recognized as just one part of wide-ranging philosophical and theological discussions. A Hidden Wisdom breaks new ground by drawing attention to another crucial component of these conversations: the Christian contemplative tradition. The thirteenth-fifteenth centuries in particular saw a dramatic increase in the production and consumption of mystical and contemplative literature in the 'Christian West', by laypeople as well as religious scholars, women as well as men. A Hidden Wisdom focuses on five topics of particular interest to both scholastics and contemplatives in this period-namely, self-knowledge, reason and its limits, love and the will, persons, and immortality and the afterlife. This focus centers on the (often overlooked) contributions of medieval women and demonstrates that when we reunite scholasticism with its contemplative counterpart, we gain not only a more accurate understanding of the scope of medieval Christian philosophy and theology but also an increased awareness of a deeply practical tradition that builds up as well as tears down, generates as well as deconstructs. The book's treatment of topics and figures is meant to be representative rather than exhaustive-a tasting menu rather than a comprehensive study. The choice of topics offers a series of 'hooks' for philosophers to connect their own interests to issues central to medieval contemplative philosophy, while also providing medievalists in other disciplines a fresh lens through which to view these texts.

Contents:

Acknowledgments

Preface

List of Figures

1. Mysticism, Methodology, and Epistemic Justice

1.1 Implicit Assumptions and the Case of 'Mystical Experience'

1.1.1 A standard contemporary definition of 'mystical experience'

1.1.2 Debates about mysticism in the twentieth century

1.2 Apophatic Self-Abnegation

1.3 Correcting via Complementing: Embracing Embodied Experiences

1.4 Philosophical Morals and Historical Narratives

1.5 Looking Ahead

Interlude One: Who Is This Book About?

2. Self-Knowledge

2.1 Putting the Self into Perspective

2.2 Recommendations for Developing Self-Knowledge

2.2.1 Look outside yourself to know yourself: the mirror of self-knowledge

2.2.2 Root down in humility to rise up in dignity: the tree of self

2.2.3 Use reason and imagination to overcome selfish pride

2.3 Self-Knowledge, Mystic Union, and Our Final End

2.3.1 Our final end as self-annihilation

2.3.2 Our final end as self-fulfillment

2.4 Conclusion

Interlude Two: What Is a Beguine?

3. Reason and Its Limits

3.1 The Nature of Reason

3.2 Taking Leave of Reason

3.3 Reason as Guide

3.4 Reason as Enhanced by Mystical Union

3.5 Scientia vs. Sapientia

Interlude Three: When Did Reading Become a Sign of Religious Devotion for Women?

4. Love and the Will

4.1 The Will in Context

4.1.1 Sensation and sense appetite

4.1.2 Imagination

4.2 Meditation and the Will

4.3 Contemplation and Love

4.4 Clear Eyes, Full Hearts: Women's Bodies and the Reception of Truth

Interlude Four: Where Does the Erotic Imagery of Medieval Mystics Come from?

5. Persons

5.1 Putting 'Person' in Perspective

5.1.1 Grammatical and logical context

5.1.2 Legal and political context

5.1.3 Theological context

5.2 Individuality, Dignity, and Rationality in Contemplative Texts

5.2.1 Individuality and agency

5.2.2 Dignity

5.2.3 Rationality

5.3 Personal Perspectives, Personification, and Introspection

5.4 Looking Forward: Locke and Personalism

Interlude Five: Why Do Medieval Women Talk Like They Hate Themselves?

6. Immortality and the Afterlife

6.1 The Metaphysics of Immortality

6.2 Transcending Matter, Becoming God

6.3 Embodied Immortal Experience

6.4 Intellective Union and the Scholastic Tradition

6.4.1 Robert Grosseteste

6.4.2 Thomas Aquinas

6.5 Conclusion

Afterword

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on Publisher website; title from home page (viewed on September 21, 2022).

Other Format:

Print version: Van Dyke, Christina A Hidden Wisdom

ISBN:

0-19-260615-8

0-19-189363-3

0-19-260616-6

Publisher Number:

10.1093/oso/9780198861683.001.0001 DOI