An edition of The Secret Within (2014)

The Secret Within

Hermits, Recluses, and Spiritual Outsiders in Medieval England

My Reading Lists:

Create a new list

Check-In

×Close
Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
Today


Buy this book

Last edited by MARC Bot
December 21, 2022 | History
An edition of The Secret Within (2014)

The Secret Within

Hermits, Recluses, and Spiritual Outsiders in Medieval England

Spiritual seekers throughout history have sought illumination through solitary contemplation. In the Christian tradition, medieval England stands out for its remarkable array of hermits, recluses, and spiritual outsiders, from Cuthbert Godric of Fichale and Christina of Markyate to Richard Rolle, Julian of Norwich, and Margery Kempe. In The Secret Within, Wolfgang Riehle offers the first comprehensive history of English medieval mysticism in decades, one that will appeal to anyone fascinated by mysticism as a phenomenon of religious life.

In considering the origins and evolution of the English mystical tradition, Riehle begins in the twelfth century with the revival of eremitical mysticism and the early growth of the Cistercian Order in the British Isles. He then focuses in depth on the great mystics of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries: Richard Rolle (the first great English mystic), the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing, Walter Hilton, Margery Kempe, and Julian of Norwich. Riehle carefully grounds his narrative in the broader spiritual landscape of the Middle Ages, pointing out both prior influences dating back to Late Antiquity and corresponding developments in mysticism and theology on the Continent. He discusses the problem of possible differences between male and female spirituality and the movement of popularizing mysticism in the late Middle Ages. Filled with fresh insights, The Secret Within will be welcomed especially by teachers and students of medieval literature as well as by those engaged in historical, theological, philosophical, cultural, even anthropological and comparative studies of mysticism.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
427

Buy this book

Previews available in: English

Book Details


Table of Contents

The development of eremitical mysticism in the British Isles
Early Cistercian theology in England
Ancrene wisse : a magnificent exemplar of early English mysticism
"Female" versus "male" spirituality : a talking of the love of God and the meditations of the Monk of Farne
Richard Rolle of Hampole : England's first great mystic
Marguerite Porete's Mirror of simple souls and its reception in England
The cloud of unknowing and related tracts
Walter Hilton : England's mystic theologian
The singular vision of Julian of Norwich
Margery Kempe : the shocking "fool in Christ"
Some aspects of popularizing mysticism in late medieval England.

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. 389-413) and index.

Published in
Ithaca

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
248.2/209420902
Library of Congress
BV5077.E54 R5413 2014, BV5077.E54R5413 2014

The Physical Object

Pagination
xviii, 427 p. :
Number of pages
427

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL26654222M
Internet Archive
secretwithinherm00rieh
ISBN 10
0801451094
ISBN 13
9780801451096
LCCN
2013027551
OCLC/WorldCat
853113864

Community Reviews (0)

Feedback?
No community reviews have been submitted for this work.

Lists

This work does not appear on any lists.

History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
December 21, 2022 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
December 8, 2022 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
November 14, 2020 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
October 10, 2020 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
January 16, 2019 Created by ImportBot Imported from Internet Archive item record