Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 18755
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Newman , Barbara.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Some Mediaeval Theologians and the Sophia Tradition [The author explores the diverse ways in which four theologians transformed the Biblical figure of Sophia, or Wisdom, into a powerful feminine image of God’s activity in creation and redemption. In the twelfth century, Bernard of Clairvaux frequently alluded to the figure of Wisdom from the Song of Songs in order to represent the maternal and nurturing qualities of the Divine; Hildegard of Bingen’s images of the feminine divine, in contrast, stressed the active forces of creation and redemption. In the fourteenth century, Henry Suso casts himself as a courtly lover who courts Wisdom as a knight serves a lady; Julian of Norwich adapts the maternal imagery of the Divine to embrace a much more inclusive and wider affective range. Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Downside Review 108, ( 1990): Pages 111 - 130.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Bernard of Clairvaux, Theologian, Saint Bible Exegesis- Song of Songs Courtly Love Devotional Literature Henry Suso, Mystic Hildegard of Bingen, Abbess of Rupertsberg Jesus Christ as Mother Julian of Norwich, Mystic Literature- Verse Metaphor, Literary De
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: General
  • Century: 12, 14- 15
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  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 1990.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 00125806