Margery Kempe, the main topic of this essay, was a controversial person during her lifetime. People had polarized opinions about her. She was in many conflicts with mostly clerical authorities and was a conspicuous person. While some contemporaries looked up to her, many others did not know how to deal with her and her extraordinary behavior. Today, some credit her as a mystic, while others condemn her as crazy. This essay will attempt to answer the question of whether she was a mystic or not. One approach could be to look at definitions of the terms "mystic" and "mysticism." However, these definitions seem inaccurate. Therefore, the essay will not primarily concentrate on these definitions but will focus on the life and work of Margery Kempe. Her book "The Book of Margery Kempe" is the only book she ordered to be written and is her autobiography. The essay will give a short survey of important events of her life and try to characterize her religious and spiritual perceptions. In this first step, the essay will also look at the problems she had to accomplish and highlight why her behavior could be seen as extraordinary. The essay will use sources such as "The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church," "Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics," and works by Julian of Norwich, Richard Rolle, and Walter Hilton.
Reinhard, Kathryn L. "Joy to the Father, Bliss to the Son: Unity and the Motherhood Theology of Julian of Norwich." Anglican Theological Review 89, no. 4 (September 1, 2007): 629-645. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials, EBSCOhost (accessed December 3, 2013).
Medieval England was considered to be a Patriarchy, due to the serious gender roles which cast men as superior to women. Margery Kempe attempted time and time again to break the boundaries of the gender roles put in place by society. The men in her life tried to stop her, and bring her back to the social norms of what it meant to be a women living in the time period: John Kempe, her priest, Christ etc. To analyze Kempe, it is first important to note what was expected of medieval women; “the classical females are portrayed as vessels of chastity, purity, and goodness” (O’Pry-Reynolds, 37). She was not your typical female; she wanted to break free from the strict expectations of women; “Men and women of the medieval period and medieval literature
world of mysticism, a world fraught with peril. First you must study the basic subjects, those
To Know, Worship and love, Rev. P.J. Elliot, James Goold House Publications, 2002, East Melbourne. (Chapters 2- 4)
Throughout history there have been many cases of women who possess strong powers and a passion for God, especially in the Middle Ages. One woman that fit into that category was Margery Kempe, a fifteenth-century visionary, who was a controversial figure in the Christian faith. Margery insisted that Jesus talked to her, while many people thought that she was being possessed by the devil. During the time of The Middle Ages many stories of women saints were being exposed with many differences from Kempe’s life, however there were some surprising similarities as well. Medieval female saints and martyrs were intended to be chaste if they were single and virtuous if they are married. They were also extremely devoted and pure to Christ, not giving in to any temptations. Kempe seems to be tempted by men, but then immediately followed by shame. On the other hand she posse’s qualities the saints share like, visions, passion, a desire to be chaste and, commitment. Saint Margaret of Antioch is one of the saints that appear often in “The Book of Margery Kempe”. She is a martyr who death occurred sometime in the late thirteenth century. Unlike the
To conclude we find Margery crying and weeping all through out the book. I find this to be some sort of depression, maybe it is because she can't be with God in heaven so she feels the need to cry. All through out the book Margery is getting people into trouble with her reputation of being "evil". Just one of the instances is the time her travel companions were thrown into jail in Leicester. Then there is the thing of having no sex with her first husband. I know that effected him, like it would with any husband. Personally I don't think that Margery was a "mystic". I think the reason why she weeped so much is because she always had to lie to keep up her life. The more she lied about seeing God to stay live the more she realized that she was falling farther from God.
... her faith as a sensual experience, Kempe creates a new way--for women in particular--to reach not just enlightenment but empowerment through worshipping God. If Margery Kempe were alive today, she would be considered eccentric but because of her creative book, she would still make it on Oprah's Book Club list.
Woodbridge, Linda. Women and the English Renaissance: Literature and the Nature of Womankind, 1540-1620. Urbana and Chicago: U of Illinois, 1986.
Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy. Trans. John W. Harvey. New York: Oxford UP, 1958. Print.
In her autobiography The Book of Margery Kempe, Margery Kempe tells the story of her spiritual journey in Medieval England over a twenty five year period. It recounts her quest to establish spiritual authority as a result in personal visions and conversations with Jesus and God that she has. It begins around 1393, with Margery’s self-acknowledged onset of psychosis that she calls as her spiritual crisis. In the work The Book of Margery Kempe, Margery shows symptoms of postpartum psychosis that causes her to directly communicate with numerous aspects of the divine.
Woolstoncraft, Mary. A Vindication of The Rights of Woman. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 3rd Ed. Volume D. Ed. Martin Puchner. New York: Norton, 2013. 134-136. Print.
"Wait a minute!" you shout in frustration. "Those are just characters in silly stories! Parables and metaphors and similes! They are stupid and imprecise and I want answers! You go on and on about how 'I may be a mystic but I'm a rational mystic.' Well lah-tee-dah. I want answers. Rational answers. I want something that makes sense. What am I? What am I really?"
According to the American Heritage Dictionary, “Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power recognized as the creator and governor of the universe; A particular integrated system of this expression; the spiritual or emotional attitude of one who recognizes the existence of a superhuman power or powers” ("Various Definitions Of Religion", n.d.).
The simplest definition states, "In many cultures and times, religion has been the basic foundation of life, permeating all aspects of human existence (pg 12, Fisher)." Another more extensive definition read,