VARIETIES OF VERNACULAR MYSTICISM IN THE
LATE MIDDLE AGES
B. McGinn
Spring 2007
Thursdays 3:00-5:50
(Religious Studies Conference Room)
In the last three centuries of the Middle Ages mysticism moved outside the confines of the cloister and the Latin of the monks and schoolmen into the vernacular world of Western Europe to find expression in many developing vernacular literatures: Dutch, German, French, Italian, and English. Although most mystical literature was now produced in the vernacular, a complex interaction between Latin, the international language of theology, and the new vernaculars was important for late medieval mysticism.
This seminar will investigate the most important writers and texts of the vernacular mysticisms of the period 1300-1550, identifying essential characteristics and probing what the language shift meant for the history of mysticism. Each session will consist of some common readings and discussion of late medieval texts in translation, along with a few select passages in the original and facing translation. This analysis of texts and contexts should be of interest to scholars of the history of medieval religion, as well as students of literature, history, and medieval art.
Requirements:
1. Completion of all reading assignments on time in order to be able to participate in discussion and close analysis of the texts.
2. Provide a class analysis of one sermon of Eckhart for the first working session of the seminar (Tuesday, April 10).
2. Give one class presentation of a text assigned for the remainder of the seminar (10-15 minutes in length). This presentation should: (a) provide an overall assessment of the genre and purpose of the text; (b) respond to several of the questions proposed to guide discussion; and (c) raise further issues for discussion, analysis, or explanation.
3. Write a seminar paper on some aspect of late medieval mysticism (20-25 pp. double-spaced). The topic should be determined in consultation with the instructor and need not be restricted to the texts we have read.
SYLLABUS
1. Thursday, April 5: Organizational Meeting and the Nature B. McGinn, Essential Writings
of Mysticism of Christian Mysticism, xiii-xviii
2. Tuesday, April 10: Meister Eckhart and the Colledge-McGinn, Essential
(Note Change) Mysticism of the Ground Writings of Meister Eckhart,
Selections
MHG text: Sequence “Granum sinapis”
Reports on Eckhart Sermons
3. Thursday, April 19: Eckhart’s Followers: Suso and Henry Suso, “The Life of the
Tauler Servant;” and Tauler Sermons in
McGinn, Essential Writings, 105-09,
180-83, 379-83
MHG text: Tauler, Pr. 39
4. Thursday, April 26: Later German Mysticism and Art McGinn, Essential Writings, 140-43
and Mysticism 269-75, 293-97, 421-26
Slide Presentation
Latin texts: Selections from Cusanus
5. Thursday, May 3: Dutch Mysticism I: Ruusbroec John Ruusbroec, “The
Spiritual Espousals”
Dutch text: Little Book of Enlightenment, chaps. 9-13
6. Thursday, May 10: Dutch Mysticism II: After Ruusbroec The Evangelical Pearl, Bk. 3 (to be
distributed)
A Dutch,
Latin, or French chapter from The Evangelical
7. Tuesday, May 15:
Catherine of
Late Medieval Italy entitled “The Bridge” (pp. 64-160)
(Note Day Change: Time to be determined) Catherine of
Purgatory”
Italian text: Catherine of
8. Thursday, May 24: English Mysticism I: Julian of
ME Texts: Select chapters of The Showings, or another English mystic
9. Thursday, May 31: English Mysticism II: The Cloud Author and The Cloud
Other English Mystics
ME Texts: Selections from the Cloud and/or
The Book of Privy Counsel
Texts:
B. McGinn, The Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism (Random House, 2006)
ISBN 0-8129-7421-2
The other texts are available in the CWS Series (Classics of Western Spirituality) published by Paulist Press.
1. Meister Eckhart. The Essential Sermons, Commentaries, Treatises, and Defense (Paulist Press, 1981). ISBN 0-8091-2370-3
2. Henry Suso. The Exemplar with Two German Sermons (Paulist Press, 1989) ISBN 0-8091-2986-8
3. John Ruusbroec. The Spiritual Espousals and Other Writings (Paulist Press, 1985). ISBN 0-8091-2729-6
4. Catherine of
5. Catherine of
6. Julian of
7. The Cloud of Unknowing (Paulist Press, 1981) ISBN 0-8091-2332-0
OPTIONAL: B. McGinn, The Harvest of Mysticism in Medieval