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Eroticism and Pain in Mechthild
of Magdeburg's The Flowing Light
Author(s) -
McGowin Emily Hunter
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
new blackfriars
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1741-2005
pISSN - 0028-4289
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-2005.2010.01392.x
Subject(s) - eroticism , mysticism , soul , narrative , relation (database) , literature , situated , philosophy , liturgy , theology , art , human sexuality , sociology , gender studies , database , artificial intelligence , computer science
This article presents an introduction to the rhetoric of eroticism and pain in the theology of medieval mystic, Mechthild of Magdeburg (c. 1208‐c. 1282/94), author of The Flowing Light of the Godhead . A survey of select texts from TFL is presented, with a focused analysis of Book IV, Chapter 12, where pain is cast in the role of a courtly intermediary between Christ and the soul. It is argued that a deeper consideration of this chapter provides significant insight into Mechthild's overall conception of pain in relation to the divine. Moreover, she writes with a coherent mystical theology of pain situated firmly within the Christian liturgy and narrative tradition.