From Virile Woman to WomanChrist: Studies in Medieval Religion and Literature

by Barbara Newman

Why did hagiographers of the late Middle Ages praise mothers for abandoning small children? How did a group of female mystics come to define themselves as "apostles to the dead" and end by challenging God's right to damn? Why did certain heretics around 1300 venerate a woman as the Holy Spirit incarnate and another as the Angelic Pope?

In From Virile Woman to WomanChrist , Barbara Newman asks these and other questions to trace a gradual and ambiguous transition in the gender strategies of medieval religious women. An egalitarian strain in early Christianity affirmed that once she asserted her commitment to Christ through a vow of chastity, monastic profession, or renunciation of family ties, a woman could become "virile," or equal to a man. While the ideal of the "virile woman" never disappeared, another ideal slowly evolved in medieval Christianity. By virtue of some gender-related trait—spotless virginity, erotic passion, the capacity for intense suffering, the ability to imagine a feminine aspect of the Godhead—a devout woman could be not only equal, but superior to men; without becoming male, she could become a "womanChrist," imitating and representing Christ in uniquely feminine ways.

Rooted in women's concrete aspirations and sufferings, Newman's "womanChrist" model straddles the bounds of orthodoxy and heresy to illuminate the farther reaches of female religious behavior in the Middle Ages. From Virile Woman to WomanChrist will generate compelling discussion in the fields of medieval literature and history, history of religion, theology, and women's studies.

Genres: Medieval, Religion, History, Nonfiction, Christianity, Historical, Research

424 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Keeley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This study of medieval women's theology is clear and persuasively written, though sometimes a bit digressive. I am particularly impressed by the author's dedication to taking the thought of these women at face value and contextualizing the texts in their social, cultural, literary, and religious milieux. For a work of scholarship from 1995, this is refreshingly free of the convoluted language and trendy schools of thought that were so popular at the time.
I was familiar with some of the thinkers included in the study, such as Perpetua, Heloise, Hildegard, and Catherine of Siena. Others were new to me as this is not my area of academic specialty. I particularly enjoyed what I learned about Hadewijch, Margery Kempe, and Cornelius Agrippa. Some of the others under discussion were significantly less to my taste, but all were studied thoughtfully.
By "digressive" as a criticism of the book, what I mean is that sometimes the overall thesis of the book is lost within the chapters as the author fully explores her interest in an individual thinker and her historical context. As a result, the study comes off more as an edited volume than as a monograph.

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic examination of gender roles and individual woman in regards to religion in medieval Europe. The chapters consist of various case studies – Heloise and Abelard; the development of the concept of Purgatory; heretics; a series of visionary mystics – which can feel a little disjointed from one another, but overall form a varied, complex glimpse at women between 1100 and 1600ce. The writing is captivating, the stories are engrossing, and overall it's just a wonderful book.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, while already becoming slightly outdated, takes a really sound approach to women's writings in the mystical genre of the fourteenth century.