Daring the Wilderness: the Preaching and Theology of the Beguines

Dr. Hannah Matis, associate professor of Church History, will lecture on the beguines, a diverse group of religious women in the high and late Middle Ages who included some of the innovative and radical vernacular theologians of their day and influenced other theologians and forms of religious life on the eve of the Reformation. This lecture explores the movement in general and the theology of one thirteenth-century Dutch beguine, the poet Hadewijch, in particular.  Hadewijch’s favorite themes include the all-encompassing love of Christ, the longing of the soul for the beloved, and a profound exploration of human suffering. The proclamation and witness of Hadewijch make her a challenging and inspirational figure in the church nearly eight hundred years later.