Fictions of the Inner Life - Ineke Van 't Spijker

Religious Literature and Formation of the Self in the Eleventh and Twe

KORTE INHOUD

Interiorization and a trend towards a consideration of the nature of personal experience have long been recognized as important elements in the changing landscape of the religious culture of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The homo interior is at the centre of the religious writings of that time, and the 'inner man' is a pivotal concept for making sense of the literature of religious formation. Monastic writers try to provide their readers with a 'script' to enact in themselves, in order to form their inner self, as the way to ascend to the knowledge of God. Interiority, however, is not a straightforward aspect of human existence with an unchanging meaning. The notion as it is used by medieval monastic authors gives expression to a specific understanding of what a human being was thought to be, quite different from later self-perceptions. Because of this difference, when they write 'histories of the self' historians and philosophers often pass over the Middle Ages. On the other hand, in histories of mysti...
2004Taal: Engelszie alle details...

Details

2004Uitgever: Brepols Publishers264 paginasTaal: EngelsISBN-10: 2503515142ISBN-13: 9782503515144

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