1st Edition
Mary Magdalene in Medieval Culture Conflicted Roles
This innovative and multidisciplinary collection visits representations and interpretations of Mary Magdalene in the medieval and early modern periods, questioning major scholarly assumptions behind the examination of female saints and their depictions in medieval artworks, literature, and music. Mary Magdalene’s many and various characterizations from reformed prostitute to conversion-figure to devotee of Christ to "apostle to the apostles" to spiritual advisor to the Prince of Marseilles to hermit in the desert, to list just a few examples, mean that the many conflicted representations of Mary Magdalene apply to a staggering variety of cultural material, including art, liturgy, music, literature, theology, hagiography, and the historical record. Furthermore, Mary Magdalene has grown into an extremely popular and controversial figure due to recent books and movies concerning her, and due to a groundswell of general speculation concerning her relationship to Jesus: was she his acquaintance, follower, companion, wife, family-member, or lover? This volume employs a broad spectrum of theoretical methodologies in order to present poststructuralist, postcolonial, postmodernist, hagiographic, and feminist readings of the figure of Mary Magdalene, addressing and interrogating her conflicting roles and the precise relationship between her sacred and secular representations.
1. Preface Katherine L. Jansen 2. An Introduction to the Many Conflicted Roles of Mary Magdalene: Definitions, Approaches, Methods, and Paths of Inquiry Peter Loewen and Robin Waugh Part I: Mary Magdalene’s Roles in Development 3. Mary Magdalene as Mara, Teacher of Authority Jane Schaberg 4. The Development of The Proper Office of Mary Magdalene in the Cistercian Antiphonary Alicia Scarcez 5. The Invention and Development of the ‘Secular’ Mary Magdalene in Late Renaissance Italian Painting Heidi Hornik 6. The Magdalene Variations: Production, Performance, and Pedagogy in a Modern Adaptation of Medieval Mary Magdalene Dramas Catherine Innes-Parker and Greg Doran Part II: Mary Magdalene’s Roles in Tension 7. Apostle to the Apostles: The Complexity of Medieval Preaching about Mary Magdalene Larissa Juliet Taylor 8. Mary Magdalene as a Model of Devotion, Penitence, and Authority in the Gospels of Henry the Lion Elizabeth Monroe 9. The Late Medieval Mary Magdalene: Sacredness, Otherness, and Wildness Joana Antunes 10. The Voice of the Heart in a Box in the Middle English Lamentation of Mary Magdalene Robin Waugh Part III: Mary Magdalene’s Roles in Action 11. From Apostola Apostolarum to the Preacher-Evangelist of Provence: On the Evolution of a Medieval Motif for Mary Magdalene Diane Apostolos-Cappadona 12. ‘I wolde I wer as worthy to ben sekyr of thy lofe as Mary Mawdelyn was:’ The Magdalene as an Authorizing Tool in the Book of Margery Kempe Juliette Vuille 13. Franciscan Preaching through Mary Magdalene as Joculatrix Domini in the Late-Medieval German Passionen Peter Loewen 14. Mary Magdalene, Social Critic? Rachel Jones Part IV: Mary Magdalene’s Proto-feminist and other Subversive Roles 15. Challenging Cluny in England?: Effacing the Priest in the Magdalene Liturgies at Lewes and Pontefract Donna Bussell 16. A Garden in the Wilderness: Locating Female Authority in the Digby Mary Magdalene Kristi Castleberry 17. ‘Now is aloft þat late was ondyr!’: Enclosure, Liberation, and Spatial Semantics in the Digby Mary Magdalene Play Joanne Findon 18. ‘I was wont to make this carkas pleasant and swete’: Cosmetic Enhancement and Bodily Adornment in Lewis Wager’s The Life and Repentaunce of Marie Magdalene (c.1550-1566) David Coleman 19. The Singing Prophetess: Mary of Magdala in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion Corinna Herr Part V: Afterword 20. The Future of Mary Magdalene Studies: Disciplinary and Theoretical Frameworks Theresa Coletti Bibliography of Important Works concerning Mary Magdalene Index
Biography
Peter V. Loewen is Associate Professor of musicology at Rice University. He is the author of Music in Early Franciscan Thought (2013), and articles concerning Mary Magdalene in From the Margins 2: Women of the New Testament and their Afterlives (2009); and in Speculum (July 2007), co-authored by Robin Waugh.
Robin Waugh specializes in Old English, Middle English, and Old Norse literature, and is Coordinator of Medieval Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. He is the author of The Genre of Medieval Patience Literature, co-editor of another book, and has published articles in Modern Philology, Comparative Literature, JEGP, Philological Quarterly, and Speculum.
