Sectirische und begeisterte Weibes-Personen. On the Gynaeceum Haeretico Fanaticum by J. H. Feustking (1704)

Abstract

In 1704, the Lutheran pastor and theologian, Johann Heinrich Feustking, published a work entitled Gynaeceum Haeretico Fanaticum, a collection of names and profiles of women who, from Eve onwards, in every time and place were supposed – according to the author’s judgement – to have caused disturbance and unrest among the faithful. However, by perusing the index of names in the Gynaeceum, one is immediately aware that not only heretics in the strict sense of the word appear in the gallery of characters compiled by the Lutheran theologian, that is, women already condemned as such by the Church (or by the Churches), but also canonized saints and great mystics of the Middle Ages, mystics of the Early Modern Age, female figures from the dawn of Christianity and even from the Old Testament. Next to these, there are many Quaker women, and women linked to Pietist groups, but also to Catholic Quietism and figures of “chretiennes sans église”: namely, restless consciences, and women who moved outside or at the margins of the confessional churches of the time.On examining the wide spectrum of cases dealt with in the Gynaeceum, the first question that comes to mind is: what did all these women have in common in Feustking’s eyes? Why did he include experiences of such different natures and outcomes in his lexicon? To find an answer to these questions, the author tries to analyse from inside those ideals and religious conceptions on which Feustking’s work is based, and follow the thread of his reasoning.The essay aims to outline just a few among the many readings offered by a rich and complex source which lends itself to questioning from different perspectives, and discusses the possibility of using this source in a history of gender relations and in a social history of culture.The author’s working hypothesis is to use Feustking’s work as a hypertext, a starting point to explore also the networks of relationships, exchanges and contacts between dissident groups, and the circulation of texts and ideas. She proposes to relate to andcompare this source with documents of another nature. The use of a heterogeneous corpus of sources will allow for the interweaving of various levels of analysis and different visual angles, combining and intersecting an emic perspective – that is, inherent to the protagonists’ system of signs - with an etic perspective, which utilises categories belonging to other cultural systems.