ABSTRACT

First Published in 2002. This book is about the way medieval authors wrote about union with God and how they used language that refers to the senses to articulate their ideas about how a person can be one with God. Rudy argues that such explicit concepts of the spiritual senses are not sharply distinct from the ideas implicit in broader usage of sensory language in theological writings. These ideas are significant in the history of Christian mysticism, because language that refers to the senses bears directly on several ideas that are central to ideas about union with God.

chapter Chapter 1|16 pages

Sensory Language and Theological Concepts

chapter Chapter 2|28 pages

Other Senses

chapter Chapter 3|22 pages

Bernard of Clairvaux

Spiritual Sensation

chapter Chapter 4|34 pages

Hadewijch

The Touch and Taste of Minne

chapter Chapter 5|20 pages

Echoes and Ambiguities