Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review“Wisdom’s Journey crosses the medieval/early modern divide in an accomplished fashion [and] makes a very convincing case for the importance of recognizing the European context of medieval English devotional literature and culture.” —Annie Sutherland, author of English Psalms in the Middle Ages, 1300–1450
“A major contribution to our knowledge of the transmission and transformation of crucial medieval devotional writings in later centuries.” —Alastair Minnis, author of Translations of Authority in Medieval English Literature
"Steven Rozenski explores devotional and mystical literature in his focused study of English translations and adaptations of the works of Henry Suso, Catherine of Siena, and Thomas à Kempis, and the common devotional culture manifested in the work of Richard Rolle. Written primarily for scholars in medieval mysticism, Reformation studies, and translation studies, Wisdom's Journey will also appeal to readers interested in medieval studies and English literature more broadly." —Church History
"Rozenski is to be commended for his extensive research and refreshing insight into the literary function of these well-known religious texts." —Anglican Theological Review
"[T]he most powerful aspect of this book is its insistence on seeing translation itself as an act of creation and meaning-making, rather than regarding a translated text simply as an altered or, worse, reductive form of its source." —The Review of English Studies
"Rozenski's fine book fulfills its claim that focusing on 'aurality, gender, and translation across regions and across time periods' provides new insight into many aspects of Late Medieval and Early Modern mysticism." —Church History
"Rozenski offers an illuminating account of the long life of Continental devotional theologies translated in Middle and early modern English, one that invites further consideration of other existing Continental translations circulating in medieval England. It also decompartmentalizes insular England from the continent by showing the extent to which continental literature found its way into Middle English devotional treatises through the work of theologically and textually sophisticated translators. Wisdom’s Journey’s departitioning of the medieval from the early modern is also a boon that proves to be extremely productive. Rozenski’s insightful reflections are well supported by his detailed close readings and multiple references to a vast number of secondary sources."—The Journal of Medieval Religious Cultures
Table of ContentsIntroduction: Devotional Theology and Devotional Mobility
Chapter 1: Devotional Mobility in Fourteenth-Century England and Germany
Chapter 2: Henry Suso in England: Rhineland Mysticism and Middle English Literature
Chapter 3: Catherine of Siena in Trans-Reformation England: Translations of Female Visionary
Chapter 4: Thomas à Kempis and The Imitation of Christ: The Devotion of the Fifteenth- Century Low Countries and the Birth of Confessional Textual Criticism
Conclusion: Authorship, Canon, and Popularity
