Professor Keith Egan
Saint Mary's
College
Religious Studies 321
"Women Mystics"
This course explores the meaning of Christian mysticism as it has been
experienced and articulated by women. Members of the course will
ask what insights for human life and Christian discipleship have come
from the voices of women who have described the divine presence of
mystical experience. The course will include an overview of
mysticism, the role of women in the formation of the Christian
mystical tradition and the study of texts by women like Julian of
Norwich, Teresa of Avila and Therese of Lisieux. This course will
examine the thesis of Caroline Walker Bynum on the use of food
imagery among medieval women mystics. In addition, the course will
explore the use of the Song of Songs to communicate mystical
experience and the feminine imagery in the poetry of John of the
Cross. The course will begin with an examination of Etty Hillesum's
An Interrupted Life as a way of getting to know better the
"restless heart" of a modern young woman. This course serves as a
Category One Women's Studies course.