This early example of a spiritual diary incorporating the visions of a female mystic offers a glimpse of religious women's daily life and spiritual practices. Her visions comment on memorable events such as a popular bishop's visit to town during which people were trampled to death; the consequences of a rape committed by a priest; thefts of the Eucharist and the work of witches. Christ, for Blannbekin, is not only bridegroom, but also shopkeeper, apothecary, and axe-wielding soldier, and it was her vision of swallowing Christ's foreskin which led to her eventual censorship. Life and...

Probing deeply into texts by and about prominent Christian mystics, religious authors, and saints, German Mysticism and the Politics of Culture challenges the reader to rethink the medieval past as a contemporary presence. This -presence of the past- shapes memory of place, valorizes the trope of ecstatic sexual union as death, and continues the religious marginalization of female voice and authority. The chapters focus on the works and lives of Hadewijch, Marie d Oignies, Dionysius of Ryckel, Heinrich Seuse, Margarete Ebner, St. Elisabeth, Hrotsvit of Gandersheim, and the stigmatic...