Biography: religious and spiritual Books

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Book SynopsisA modern English version of the Middle English text of Birgitta's Revelations made at the Birgittine Syon Abbey in England, in which the scribes extracted their favourite episodes from the longer Latin version.Saint Birgitta of Sweden (canonised in 1391) is one of the most important female figures of medieval Europe. She participated vigorously in its political life, attempting through her writings to end the Hundred Years War between England and France, and to strengthen the Papacy against the Schism; she also influenced other mystics, such as Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Siena, Chiara Gambacorta, Margery Kempe and Elizabeth Barton, leading a tradition in which women, despite being forbidden to preach, could act through writing visionary books. Birgitta was helped by cardinals, bishops, priors and masters in her task, speaking to Popes, Emperors and all Europe. For this work she is now proclaimed, with Catherine of Siena and Edith Stein, Patron of Europe. This book presents in modern English her medieval biography, excerpts from her massive book, the Revelationes, from a translation into MiddleEnglish made at Brigittine Syon Abbey in England. This is accompanied by an interpretive essay and an introduction tracing her life.

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Book SynopsisA history of women prophets from medieval saints to radical Protestants.Diane Watt sets aside the conventional hiatus between the medieval and early modern periods in her study of women's prophecy, following the female experience from medieval sainthood to radical Protestantism. The English women prophets and visionaries whose voices are recovered here all lived between the twelfth and the seventeenth centuries and claimed, through the medium of trances and eucharistic piety, to speak for God. They include Margery Kempe and the medieval visionaries, Elizabeth Barton (the Holy Maid of Kent), the Reformation martyr Anne Askew and other godly women described in John Foxe's Acts and Monuments, and Lady Eleanor Davies as an example of a woman prophetof the Civil War. The strategies women devised to be heard and read are exposed, showing that through prophecy they were often able to intervene in the religious and political discourse of the their times: the role of God's secretary gave them the opportunity to act and speak autonomously and publicly. Winner of Foster Watson Memorial Gift for 1998. Professor Diane Watt is Head of the School of English and Languages, University of Surrey.Trade ReviewConceptually elegant and sharply focused book... Not onlyly modern ground-breaking, but also accessible. * NOTES AND QUERIES *A powerful contribution in the general field of women's studies for thenew light it casts upon the tradition and perception of female prophecy. * RECUSANT HISTORY *Sheds light on a neglected aspect of late medieval and early modern English (literary) history, that of female prophetic writings. It...represents a significant contribution to the expanding field of female religious and textual practice... Excellent account. * ENGLISH *The best of the recent works on [its] subject. * SIXTEENTH CENTURY JOURNAL *

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Book SynopsisSpiritual Friendship is today the best known and perhaps most influential of the 13 surviving works of Aelred, abbot of the English Cistercian abbey of Rievaulx from 1147-1167. This fresh new translation allows the intellectual and Christian insight of this great teacher and writer to speak clearly to today's seekers of love, wisdom, and truth.Trade ReviewThis new edition provides an especially good introduction, extensive bibliography of sources, translations and secondary studies and a crisp, new translation.Bonnie Thurston, Cistercian Studies QuarterlyThis small text provides much to glean, ponder, and in which to delight.American Benedictine Review

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