53th International Medieval Congress-Kalamazoo. «From Heresy to Orthodoxy: the Riddle of Christian Iberian Mysticism»

Starting in the later fifteenth century, Iberian mysticism underwent a process that propelled it from nearly being equated with heresy to becoming central to Catholic doctrine and practice. This panel proposes a closer examination of this radical transformation that led to the legitimization, in the eyes of theologians and inquisitors, of the search for a personal experience of the divine. The reconsideration of mysticism as an orthodox practice may help to explain the complex development that transformed medieval values into the pillars of the early modern Iberian society. We welcome proposals for papers on the wider spiritual landscape in medieval Iberia that contributed to the growth of Christian mysticism at the turn to the early modern, on the Franciscan reform movement that provided a home to many whom the Inquisition later pursued, on individual mystics and visionaries and their contributions to this trajectory, on individual theologians or inquisitors and their interactions with Iberian mystics, or on the lessons that medieval/early modern regulation of Christian mystical experience might provide for understanding the contemporary impact of governmental and bureaucratic regulation on individual lives.

Please send in an abstract of about 250 words and the Participant Information form found at http://www.wmich.edu/medievalcongress/submissions#papers. Proposals are due by September 15 to acarvaja@purdue.edu and jboon@email.unc.edu. Please feel free to contact either of them in advance with any questions or tentative proposals.

Contact:
Jessica A. Boon
Associate Professor, Medieval/Early Modern Christianity
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Dept. of Religious Studies