God's Words, Women's Voices: The Discernment of Spirits in the Writing of Late-Medieval Women Visionaries

by Rosalynn Voaden

An examination of awareness of the ecclesiastical doctrine of discretio spirituum, the means of testing whether visions were truly of divine origin, in the works of medieval women visionaries from Bridget of Sweden to Joan of Arc.

Awareness of the ecclesiastical doctrine of discretio spirituum (the means of testing whether visions were truly of divine origin) was vital for medieval women visionaries. Visions and prophecy offered medieval women one ofthe few pathways to the religious and, in some cases, the political life of their time, but were subject to stringent checks due to the combination of women (deceitful by nature) and deceiving visions. However, those women visionaries who conformed could effectively fulfil their divine mandate to communicate their revelations. This book explores discretio spirituum in the works of a number of female they include St Bridget of Sweden, who was eager to present her experiences as impeccably orthodox and valid; Margery Kempe, whose ambivalent reception is shown to be due to her inconsistent conformity to the doctrine; and Marguerite Porete and Joan of Arc, whose deaths by burning at the stake demonstrate the severe consequences of their failure to conform, their visions being deemed of demonic origin.

Professor ROSALYNN VOADEN teaches in the Department of English at Arizona State University.

Genres: Religion, Nonfiction, History

216 pages, Hardcover

First published April 8, 1999

Reviews

[J. Alfred]

This book highlights the important churchly process of 'discretio spirituum,' the discerning of spirits, for the middle ages when people were claiming divine visions and whatnot and people needed to know what to do with them. It puts the practice into interesting context, especially in terms of gender (everybody really was as sexist as we steriotypically think) and shows how by conforming to the rituals it established, Bridget of Sweden was able to accrue pretty impressive temporal power (while being, as Voaden puts it, a "Vanishing Visionary"), where Margery Kempe, "The Woman Who Wouldn't Go Away," made everyone mad by ignoring the rules. An interesting work.
What's that, Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), you say that "it is easier to raise the dead than to be constantly with a woman and avoid intercourse"? Not, perhaps, literally, yes?