Philosophy Department

Women Mystics through Time
(PHLU 3304)

A. O'Brien

[Counts for Women’s Studies and Religious Studies]. For most of recorded human history, women have been considered as minors, or even as their husbands’ property, by both civil society and their religious traditions – so much so that women themselves internalized this attitude. One outstanding exception has been that of mystical experience; even when they were dependent on a spiritual director’s validation of their experiences, women mystics had autonomy and respect to which their sisters, unless they were queens, had no access.

This course will examine some of the great women mystics, medieval and contemporary, to learn how their experience both strengthened their self image and gave them a confident voice in their society. When they were excluded from nearly all educational opportunities, many were educated through their visions, and unafraid to admonish even popes when the latter were pursuing worldly, rather than spiritual, goals. Among those to be considered: Hildegard of Bingen, Hadewijch, Mechtild of Madeburg, Gertrude the Great, Birgitta of Sweden, Catherine of Sienna, and Teresa of Avila.

Teresa of Avila

Catherine of Sienna