The Temple of our Soul is one of the most attractive spiritual texts of the late Middle Ages and early modern period. Written by an anonymous woman, who was also the author of influential The Evangelical Pearl, this masterpiece offers insights into the mystical aspects of Christianity that were widespread in Rhineland and the Low Countries. For political, socio-economic, and geographical reasons, spiritual writings from the Low Countries were highly influential in France, England, and Spain. Language barriers, however, have made the original texts inaccessible to many scholars and students. This bilingual edition offers the first English translation The Temple of our Soul together with the original Dutch text. This edition includes an introduction that provides insights into the text's key themes and the social context in which it was written. In addition to students of medieval mysticism, it will also be of interest to scholars of late medieval and early modern vernacular literature and feminist theology.
This bilingual edition offers the first English translation of The Temple of our Soul, one of the most attractive spiritual texts of the late Middle Ages and early modern period. This edition includes an introduction that provides insights into the text's key themes and the social context in which it was written.
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A Bilingual edition of The Temple of our Soul, a spiritual classic written by an anonymous female author published in 1537.
Introduction;
1. How God has made the soul his temple, and has adorned
it with many graces and gifts;
2. What great crime he does and what severe
penalty he deserves who profanes and dishonours this temple through sin;
3.
How God laments over this temple and the city of the soul, destroyed in this
manner;
4. How God restored the temple of the soul;
5. How God has freed and
sanctified the soul for himself;
6. How the soul shall purify herself and
exalt her ways before she can enter into this temple;
7. How our mind itself
will be the high priest and offer a sacrifice to God;
8. How the exterior
liturgy in the holy church is carried out for the sake of the interior
liturgy;
9. How we shall spiritually celebrate the solemnity of all saints
within ourselves [ All Saints];
10. On the interior advent, and how the soul
should prepare itself for the solemnities [ Advent I];
11. On the inner
silence of the soul, her harmful running outward and the unification of the
senses and the faculties [ Advent II];
12. How the inner soul is chosen by the
holy trinity as a spiritual mother of God; how she is turned inward, greeted
and made fertile for the divine birth [ Advent III];
13. How God is born in
the human person in three ways according to the three unities [ Christmas I];
14. How the heavenly spirits lull the divine birth of the new child with a
hymn [ Christmas II];
15. The fruitful virginity of the soul [ Christmas III];
16. How we may carry Christ in our hearts and nourish him [ Christmas IV];
17.
How our soul is circumcised spiritually [ 1 January];
18. How we, having
entered in God with the holy three kings by God's light, must sacrifice
ourselves to God and overcome all pride [ Epiphany];
19. On the growth and
increase of God's grace in the soul [ First Sunday after Epiphany];
20. With
which kind of love Christ has chosen the soul as his bride [ Second Sunday
after Epiphany];
21. How we, following the example of Mary, will give birth
to Jesus, carry him in us, and make an offering of him at Candlemas;
22. Of
three kinds of people and how they practice this birth [ Candlemas II];
23.
The dignity of Mary, Mother of God and noble virgin [ Candlemas III];
24. The
vineyard of our soul [ Septuagesima];
25. The spiritual field of the soul
[ Sexagesima];
26. How those free of mind are taken up [ Quinquagesima];
27. A
loving ascent to God [ Thursday after Quinquagesima];
28. How the soul must
detach herself in the desert from everything that is not God [ First Sunday of
Lent I];
29. How we are being tempted in the desert and how angels administer
to us [ First Sunday of Lent II];
30. On the transformation of the soul
[ Second Sunday of lent];
31. How the soul is a vineyard of God [ Friday after
Second Sunday of Lent I];
32. How Christ Jesus had toiled for that vineyard
[ Friday after Second Sunday of Lent II];
33. How he fenced the vineyard and
how we will work it [ Friday after Second Sunday of Lent III];
34. How God
loved and sought out the chosen soul [ Passion tide];
35. How the groom
prepared a suitable home for his bride through his bitter suffering, hard
death and precious blood [ Maundy Thursday Good Friday I];
36. A devout
prayer to become equal to the holy life and cross of Jesus [ Good Friday II)];
37. About the spiritual burial of Jesus Christ [ Holy Saturday I];
38. How the
interiorly fervent soul shall return to the inner bedroom of her spirit, to
prepare the spiritual resurrection [ Holy Saturday II];
39. How we must grow
in likeness to the three Marys, to visit and anoint the lord [ Easter I];
40.
About the greatest sorrow of Jesus by whose suffering we are saved [ Easter
II];
41. About the greatest joy that was in Christ at his joyful resurrection
[ Easter III];
42. How the soul rises with Christ, and how God displays and
consoles the soul [ Easter IV];
43. How the soul ascends to heaven through
Jesus Christ and is introduced into the heaven of t
Rik van Nieuwenhove is Professor of Medieval Theology at Durham University. He is the author of Introduction to Medieval Theology. 2nd ed. (2022); Thomas Aquinas and Contemplation (2021) and Jan van Ruusbroec. Mystical Theologian of the Trinity (2003). A scholar of spirituality in the medieval Low Countries, Rob Faesen is Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the Catholic University Leuven, Ruusbroec Institute in Antwerp, and the Tilburg School of Catholic Theology.
