Martyrdom, Monasticism and Mysticism: Women Writers of the Early and Medieval Church

Affiliation

This course enables students to engage in depth with women writers in the Christian tradition from the years 200-1440 in their historical and theological contexts. Ten writers will be studied, from Perpetua of Carthage to Margery Kempe, covering the period from the Roman Empire to the Byzantine Empire to Late Medieval Western Europe. Students will be asked to consider the theological aims, opportunities and social and historical contexts of texts by each of these women, their rhetorical strategies, continuities and discontinuities between them, and recurring themes such as female rhetorical strategies and the nature of the authority that these women claimed for themselves.

Credit Level: 11

Year taken: Postgraduate

SCQF Credits: 20  

Not running in 2025/26

Entry type

Course