Description

Pain shapes human experience. While modern medicine reduces it to a bodily sensation, medieval mystical literature reveals a far more complex reality. This book explores how pain was conceptualized, interpreted, and valorized within the thirteenth-century mystical culture of Liège and in the fourteenth-century writings of John of Ruusbroec.
Through close readings of exempla, hagiography, and mystical treatises, it examines how authors – male and female – adapted their representations of pain to the mystical literacy of their audiences. Produced within a close-knit historical network, these texts carefully stage pain to guide readers toward repentance, meditation on holy suffering, or the pursuit of mystical knowledge. The genres all move between outward bodily performance and an inner, unending struggle that deepens along the mystical path. They reveal a dynamic interplay of inner exploration and outer expression – through word, image, and performance – that structured medieval spirituality.
Offering a new perspective on medieval theology and the cultural history of pain, this study uncovers how mystical theologians approached the complexity of pain and suffering through theological reflection and literary strategy – revealing the inner workings of a vibrant mystical culture.