Mysticism and Imagination
Professor Boaz Huss, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, title tbc

Professor Annette Volfing, Oriel College, Oxford, ‘Misdirected Visions: Doubt and Confusion in the Middle High German Sister Books’

The presentation will focus on examples of visionary experiences that do not seem to have been entirely successful, either because the nun experiencing the vision does not value the experience or because she is not able to respond appropriately to that which is revealed to her. The first group of examples concerns visions designed to dispel doubts about the Eucharist – and which may therefore be deemed to cast a slur on the strength of the recipients’ faith. The second group of examples involves visions of the Christ Child, with the reactions of the recipients being presented as overly sentimental, unintellectual, or simply confused.
Date: 2 December 2021, 16:00 (Thursday, 8th week, Michaelmas 2021)
Venue: Zoom (contact organisers for link)
Speakers: Boaz Huss (Ben-Gurion University), Annette Volfing (Oriel College, Oxford)
Organising department: Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages
Organisers: Rey Conquer (Pembroke College), Dr Mary Boyle (Linacre College, Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: rey.conquer@pmb.ox.ac.uk
Part of: Imagining Belief
Booking required?: Required
Audience: Public
Editors: Rey Lawson Conquer, Mary Boyle