Title: SEMINAR: RHETORICAL STUDIES

PRQ:

This seminar will examine the “lingua franca” of the writings of medieval Christian mystics. Students will compare the English mystics of the 14^th century (e.g., Richard Rolle, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe) to selected continentals (e.g., Hildegard of Bingen, Hadewijch, Catherine of Siena, Teresa of Avila). Particular emphasis will be placed on rhetorically situating women mystics in terms of how they managed their relationships with male spiritual directors, how they represented themselves in a patriarchal context, and what genres they composed. Important questions for investigation: How does the “lingua franca” of these mystical writers point to a common rhetoric of human spiritual experience? What is a “true mystic”? How did women mystics establish their authority as writers? What connections can be made to contemporary devotional and pietistic writers?

Objectives:

1. Identify traits of a rhetoric that “authenticates” medieval Christian mystical experience

2. Examine the function of “spiritual handbooks”

3. Become familiar with  theoretical approaches to mystics’ texts

4. Study the social roles that medieval mystics fulfilled in their worlds

5. Understand how mystics reconciled their experiences with orthodox teaching

6. Clarify the differences between medieval and contemporary Christian cultures

• Informal in-class written responses and discussion

• Weekly reading responses to assigned texts

• Research project suitable for presentation at a conference

• Final exam

• Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, Paulist Press, ISBN-13: 978-0809131303

• Anonymous author of Ancrene Wisse, Paulist Press, ISBN-13: 978-0809132577

• Hadewijch, selected letters, poems & visions, Paulist Press, ISBN-13: 978-0809122974

• Anonymous author of Cloud of Unknowing, Paulist Press, ISBN-13: 978-0809123322

• Richard Rolle, selected essays and lyrics, Paulist Press, ISBN-13: 978-0809130085

• Walter Hilton, Ladder of Perfection, Paulist Press, ISBN-13: 978-0809131945

• Julian of Norwich, Showings, Paulist Press, ISBN-13: 978-0809120918

• Margery Kempe, Book of Margery Kempe, Penguin Classics, ISBN-13: 978-0140432510

• Catherine of Sienna, Dialogue, Paulist Press, ISBN-13: 978-0809122332

• Teresa of Avila, Interior Castle, Paulist Press, ISBN-13: 978-0809122547

• John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, Paulist Press, ISBN-13: 978-0809128396