Dear Stephen Carey, Wylf Man and others,
Stephen I was intriqued to learn about your strong reaction to Bynum, since
I myself have just devored her books, and find especially Holy Feast and
Holy Fast not only well-documented and fantastically written, but ground
breaking also theoretically. It would be interesting to learn why you found
her text you objectionable.
Nonetheless, even master pieces need to be set under criticism, and Bynum's
approach is very well (& critically ) discussed in Felice Lifshitz's article
"Beyond Positivism and Genre: 'Hagiographical' Texts as Historical
Narrative. " Viator 25 (1994), 96-113.
As for the study of English female mystics, Bynum may not be the most
helpful (in Holy Feast and Holy Fast she is particularly interested on the
continental female mystics, Jesus as Mother focuses particularly on
Cistersian spirituality, and Resurrection of Body uses mainly philosophical
and scholarly, rather than devotional, texts), but she does discuss many
aspects of Margery of Kempe's devotional life (in her Holy Feast).
All the best,
Maiju Lehmijoki-G.
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