Spiritual Marriage Research Articles

UNDERSTANDING THEORY OF DETACHMENT AND MYSTICISM IN CONTEXT OF BHAGAVAD GITA

Mysticism had been used as a term in 3rd century specially in christian community for Biblical aspects. The term usually means at that time ‘spiritual marriage’ between supreme soul and human being. God was one and omnipresence in ancient times, at that time humans can easily get one with God by simply performing prayers and chanting, no specific mystic performance or experiences have been given much attention. In ancient times lower casts and women were not allowed to perform mystical activities, they hardly given permission to listen those chanting. Today time has changed every entity has been given equal rights to perform religious activities according to their own choices. Religion is playing a vital role in social and communal relations.In today’s life mysticism mainly focuses on the belief, that leads union with the absolute or becoming one with god, which is the central idea of Bhagavad Gita also. Gita has been considered as highly religious scripture in present scenario, which is likely to be written in 1st and 2nd Century, as an episode in Indian Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, in form of a conversation between Arjuna (living entity) and Lord Krishna (supreme soul). Bhagavad Gita explains the concept that every living entity is a part and parcel of supreme soul, who is Lord Krishna himself. There is a hidden meaning in life and each life should be unite with God. It is related to intuitive understanding of human existence and revealing the truths of life, which tries to solve the problems of present day life. This book have the power to bring light in the darkest ignorance.This paper is an attempt to contextualize the role of mystic experiences in human transformation, socially and individually. My focus will be to point out the changes, in religious activities and performances from time to time and reasons behind those changes. And also to find out the role of mysticism and spirituality in solving day to day life problems.

„Modernizacja” małżeństwa – ewolucja czy rewolucja?


 The aim of the article is to analyze the transformation of marriage in the context of socio-cultural changes taking place at the beginning of the 21st century. Taking up this issue is important not only for cognitive reasons, but also for social ones. At present, in many cultural circles, the principle of Christian marital morality is presented in a distorting mirror. Many attempts are made to impose on whole communities and even entire societies a model that proclaims itself "progressive" and "modern". Formerly concealed violence, molestation, mental torment, and even infanticide are coming to light. Homosexual marriages, homo and heterosexual partnerships are introduced, patchwork families are popularized, and divorces and life without commitments are completely normalized. For this reason, every attempt to reflect and search for “the right way" certainly brings us closer to finding the true essence and pattern of a harmonious and spiritual marriage created on the basis of a humanistic approach to human existence.

The Relationship Of Islamic Spiritual Mental Development Towards Marriage Age Resistance And The Rate Of Divorce Soldiers

The problem in this research are motivated by importance of the Mental Development which is interpreted as an activity to form, maintain, improve and strengthen the mentality of soldiers and civil servants of the Army and their families based on religion, Pancasila, Saptamarga, Soldier Oath, 8 mandatory TNI and Panca Prasetya Korpri and values the nation's struggle through spiritual mental development, mental ideology and mental struggle so as to have a strong mentality in every task implementation. This research is classified as field research, using quantitative methods. The population in this study were Indonesian Army Soldiers in the Infenteri Battalion 131/Brs, Payakumbuh as many as 84 people. Data collection techniques used are questionnaires and documentation. While the data analysis technique used is the Unvariate and Bivariate uni test. The results showed that (1) the results of statistical tests obtained P value (0.023), because P value (0.023) < (0.05), it means that there is a relationship between Islamic Spiritual Mental Development and Marriage Age Resilience in the Infantry Battalion 131/ Brs, Payakumbuh, Result OR = 1.125. Therefore, the implementation of Islamic Spiritual Mental Development in the 131st Infantry Battalion/Brs Payakumbuh is good so that the level of resilience at the age of marriage is also good. (2) The results of statistical tests did not get P value = 0.000, because P value = 0.000 < (0.05), then there is a relationship between Islamic Spiritual Mental Development and the divorce rate in the Infantry Battalion 131/Brs, Payakumbuh and the results OR = 0.800. Therefore, Islamic Spiritual Mental Development in the 131st Infantry Battalion/Brs Payakumbuh is good so that the divorce rate is low. (3) The statistical test results obtained P value (0.018), because P value (0.018) < (0.05), meaning there is The relationship between Islamic Spiritual Mental Development and Concurrent Levels (Marriage Age Resilience and Divorce Rate) in the Infantry Battalion 131/Brs, Payakumbuh and the results of OR = 0.875. Because of that, Islamic Spiritual Mental Development in the Infantry Battalion 131/ Brs, Payakumbuh is good so that the Joint Level (Marriage Age Resilience and Divorce Rate) is also good.

El matrimonio espiritual entre obispo e Iglesia. Origen y desarrollo durante la formación del «Corpus Iuris Canonici»

Analizamos el nacimiento de la metáfora del matrimonio espiritual entre obispo e Iglesia en el siglo IV, y su posterior desarrollo durante la formación del Corpus Iuris Canonici (XI-XV), principalmente en el Occidente de la cristiandad. Para ello procedemos a la lectura de diversas fuentes interdisciplinares, que revelan la irregular evolución e implementación de la metáfora en diversos ámbitos de la emergente ciencia canónica y de la teología. Concluimos estableciendo el íter seguido por la metáfora en la teología del ministerio episcopal, y acorde a la evolución de la Eclesiología: de obispo prevalentemente esposo de su iglesia, a obispo representante de Cristo —único Esposo—, unido por un doble vínculo con la Iglesia universal y con la iglesia particular.

Rumi: The Homoerotic Sufi Saint

Rumi: The Homoerotic Sufi Saint Delaney James Expressions of sexuality, specifically homoerotic poetry, in mystical writings are by no means uncommon. Wendy Noel DeSouza examines Louis Massignon’s explicit expressions of homosexuality through his translations of Sufi mystical love writings. Paul Losensky documents the commonality of homosexual tendencies in the Persian poet Muhtasham’s works, specifically The Lover’s Confection. Amira El‐Zein writes that Rumi’s encounter with Shams‐Tabrizi sparked Rumi’s poetic nature and notes that all his poetry is addressed to him. With El‐Zein’s background on Rumi’s life (1207–1273) in consideration, this article will analyze Rumi’s love poetry dedicated to his teacher Shams‐Tabrizi (1185–1248). Specifically, it will first introduce Rumi’s itinerant life and his discipleship under Shams. It will then contextualize Rumi’s poetry within the conventional sexual norms of the eastern Mediterranean (present‐day Turkey), where long‐standing Hellenistic ideals of male‐male relations coexisted alongside the cultural norms of pre‐modern Islam. It will finally examine the explicitly sexual imagery within Rumi’s poetry, noting the crude imagery of selected passages versus the overtly loving imagery found in the many devotional verses dedicated to his spiritual guide. Such analysis is important for several reasons. While homoeroticism in Rumi’s poetry has not gone unnoticed by scholars in the field, such as Mahdi Tourage and Ali A. El‐Huni, this work will firstly contribute to the literature by contextualizing Rumi’s poetry to his spiritual guide Shams‐Tabrizi within the much larger cultural milieu of Greco‐Roman and Islamic culture in the Eastern Mediterranean. Secondly, it queers previous assumptions about the marriage/lover trope in mysticism studies, which Evelyn Underhill most clearly articulated by assuming and asserting that the “Spiritual Marriage” is a heteronormative one. Finally and by extension, this study redefines the nature of erotic mystical poetry in general. Usually, erotic verses dedicated to the Divine are understood to be a metaphor for the poet’s longing for intimacy with their God. In Islam, Allah is neither male nor female; but in Rumi’s love poetry, the subject he longs for takes on a distinctively male character, which he explicitly imagines as his guide Shams‐Tabrizi. Rumi’s life & learning Rumi’s life Many people today recognize the name Rumi even if they do not have a full understanding of who he was or his contribution to the mystical writings of Islam. Rumi, birth name Jalaluddin Muhammad, was born in 1207. One source claims that he was born in Balkh, Persia, or modern‐day Afghanistan, while another cites his birthplace as Vakhsh, Iran. According to El‐Zein, Balkh was invaded by Tartars, forcing Jalaluddin and his family to flee to Rum, Konia, or modern‐day Turkey. The region Rum is the reason Jalaluddin acquired the name “al‐Rumi,” or Rumi. However, Lewis writes that Rumi’s family left Vakhsh because his father Bahâ al‐Din was “denied the rank and prestige he sought.” Despite the discrepancies in Rumi’s birthplace, both authors agree that the poet migrated to Konia, present‐day Turkey. Rumi received a traditional religious studies‐education in Aleppo and Damascus, including the study of Hanafi law, Koran, Hadith, and theology. While obtaining this education, Rumi was “initiated into the Sufi path.” Once he returned to Konia, he became a recognized and beloved expert in Islamic law, also known as a mufti. People today often recognize Rumi for his poetry; but before Rumi met Shams‐Tabrizi, he had never written a single documented verse. Their encounter on November 29, 1244, made “poetry flow from him.” “He [Rumi] became more ecstatic in his worship, expressing his love for God not only in a careful attitude of self‐renunciation and control, but also through the joy of poetry, music and meditative dance.” Shams‐Tabrizi, Rumi’s spiritual guide, transformed Rumi’s life upon their first meeting and each day thereafter. The master‐disciple relationship The teacher‐student relationship is extremely important within the Islamic sect of Sufism. The goal of a Sufi mystical experience is to “merge with Allah in ecstatic union,” or fana. Union can only be achieved with the help of a master who...

Constructing a Bernard-Hubmaier Trinitarian Model of Prevenient Grace

This article constructs a Trinitarian model of prevenient grace based on the insights of Bernard of Clairvaux and Balthasar Hubmaier. Accordingly, the three persons of the Trinity play roles in prevenient grace’s calling, convicting, illuminating, and enabling aspects. The model proposes that the Holy Spirit serves for all persons as the functional equivalent of a good cognitive faculty lost to humanity in the Fall. Hence, the Spirit suggests to each person that they enter into spiritual marriage with Christ and suggests good thoughts to unbelievers and believers alike. Without the Spirit, no one could be saved or do anything good.

Chrzest jako duchowe małżeństwo w nauczaniu Jana Chryzostoma

Jan Chryzostom w swoim bogatym dorobku duszpasterskim pozostawił po sobie także katechezy skierowane do katechumenów i nowo ochrzczonych. W dostępnych pouczeniach katechetycznych możemy dostrzec, iż szczególnie często odwołuje się on do wizji chrztu jako duchowego małżeństwa. W takim rozumieniu Chrystus – doskonały oblubieniec – przychodzi poślubić oblubienicę – katechumena – a jego inicjatywa i bezwarunkowa miłość przemienia grzesznego i pełnego słabości kandydata, czego symbolem przywoływanym przez katechetę staje się także lśniąca szata weselna. Artykuł wskazuje konteksty, w których Jan Chryzostom przywołuje wskazane porównanie oraz próbuje odpowiedzieć na pytanie, skąd u autora tak liczne odwołania do obrazu małżeństwa w odniesieniu do sakramentu chrztu.

정감적 영성 : 영적결혼을 통한 하나님과의 연합

정감적 영성 : 영적결혼을 통한 하나님과의 연합

The Humanization of Economic Life: The Legacy of Martin Buber

In this article, I explore how our economic life can be reconciled with Martin Buber’s norm of dialogical life or communion. Known for his lifelong advocacy of dialogue between persons and between nations, Buber has tirelessly emphasized the necessity of restoring immediacy between fellow beings. Every human being is called to communion with his and her fellow beings. Such fellowship is the precondition for a truly human life. Given the technological and bureaucratic organization of our political and economic lives, this fundamental need is not being fulfilled. Instead of communion, it is the will to dominate and objectify that is fostered and normalized. The transcendence of this inhuman condition is what is entailed by the transition to the I-Thou relation. I here explain what it means to approach someone as a Thou, Buber’s reconceptualization of love, and the relationship between unified souls and a wholesome economy.

Revisiting the Subintroductae: Slavery, Asceticism, and “Syneisaktism” in the Exegesis of John Chrysostom

Building on Page duBois’ work on domestic slavery, and the relationship between literal and metaphorical slavery, this article revisits John Chrysostom’s treatises against the subintroductae (“female spiritual companions”), and reads the late ancient ascetic cohabitation of syneisaktism (often termed “spiritual marriage”) not so much as a type of spiritual marriage, but as an alternative form of slavery. The findings examine the discourse of slavery in the treatises, determine the type of service cohabiting ascetics may have provided to one another, and show how this popular living arrangement relates to late ancient domestic slavery. The thesis holds that syneisaktism provided an alternative to slaveholding, since many of these subintroductae would have been ascetics who got rid of most, if not all, of their slaves, and had to find other ways of coping with domestic labor demands. The close resemblance between slavery and syneisaktism thus shapes Chrysostom’s diatribe against the subintroductae.

TUSSEN DIE AARDSE JERIGO EN DIE HEMELSE JERUSALEM. RUTGER SCHUTTE (1708-1784) EN DIE PELGRIMSMOTIEF IN SUSANNA SMIT (1799-1863) SE GODSDIENSTIGE DAGBOEKE

Rutger Schutte (1708-1784), the pietistic author of popular hymnbooks, composed his spiritual verses at a time the religious culture of Pietism was approaching its zenith in the Netherlands and other European countries. In addition to his contribution to Een Nieuw Bundeltje Uitgeknipte Geestelyke Gezangen [A new collection of suitable spiritual songs] (third edition, 1721), he composed three collections of Stichtelijke Gezangen [Edifying hymns] from the early 1760s. In addition to the extensive prefaces in these collections, Schutte added long annotations, thereby creating the impression of academic depth – a style which elicited much criticism. However, Schutte’s hymns introduced a new popular culture of hymn-singing. At the time of his death his hymns had found staunch adherents in many spheres of life. This essay identifies several themes central to Schutte’s hymns: the quest for practical piety; the tension between the heavenly Jerusalem and the earthly Jericho; and the spiritual marriage bond between Jesus and the believer. These themes also surface prominently in the spiritual diaries of the Voortrekker woman Susanna Smit. The entries in her diaries from the early 1840s reflect extracts from Schutte’s hymn “The voyage to Jerusalem” in particular. Her descriptions of and reflection on the metaphor of the Christian pilgrim’s voyage to the eternal Jerusalem served as an important point of reference in her spiritual exercises.

Mistycyzm miłości w De virginitate św. Grzegorza z Nyssy

Primeval East Church was very careful in the use of classical greek's terms specyfying love. The article presents conception breaking above tendency − the idea of ecstatic, ardent eros in St. Gregory's of Nyssa first written tractate − De virginitate, and is intended to submit variety of types of love and role of love in virginal life. The bishop of Nyssa, seeing main purpose of all human efforts in assimilation to God, emphasizes the virtue of chastity, which increases with love. Owing to this virtue, soul-bride reflects in itself intertrinitarian relations. Through love man rises his nature, assuming triad assigned to nature of God: holiness, impeccability and chastity, and becoming completely and entirely open to experience of spiritual marriage with God.

The Way of the Mystic: The Sanjuanist stages of the spiritual path

A major conceptual dynamic in all major religious traditions is the need for purification and transformation of the individual in order to effect integration and maturation of the personality in the divine. Although the means by which this purification takes place differs according to the cultural and religious configurations of any given tradition, nevertheless a recurring image is that of an inner and outer odyssey. A major example is the threefold path of John of the Cross, which presents a psycho-spiritual journey by which ‘divine osmosis’ can be realised, passing through the ‘dark night of the soul’, and culminating in ‘spiritual marriage’. Although not accepted by many theoreticians and practitioners of mysticism, nevertheless the value of the Sanjuanist schemata still holds sway in contemporary society.

Tussen die aardse Jerigo en die hemelse Jerusalem. Rutger Schutte (1708-1784) en die pelgrimsmotief in Susanna Smit (1799-1863) se godsdienstige dagboeke

Rutger Schutte (1708-1784), the pietistic author of popular hymnbooks, composed his spiritual verses at a time the religious culture of Pietism was approaching its zenith in the Netherlands and other European countries. In addition to his contribution to Een Nieuw Bundeltje Uitgeknipte Geestelyke Gezangen [A new collection of suitable spiritual songs] (third edition, 1721), he composed three collections of Stichtelijke Gezangen [Edifying hymns] from the early 1760s. In addition to the extensive prefaces in these collections, Schutte added long annotations, thereby creating the impression of academic depth – a style which elicited much criticism. However, Schutte’s hymns introduced a new popular culture of hymn-singing. At the time of his death his hymns had found staunch adherents in many spheres of life. This essay identifies several themes central to Schutte’s hymns: the quest for practical piety; the tension between the heavenly Jerusalem and the earthly Jericho; and the spiritual marriage bond between Jesus and the believer. These themes also surface prominently in the spiritual diaries of the Voortrekker woman Susanna Smit. The entries in her diaries from the early 1840s reflect extracts from Schutte’s hymn “The voyage to Jerusalem” in particular. Her descriptions of and reflection on the metaphor of the Christian pilgrim’s voyage to the eternal Jerusalem served as an important point of reference in her spiritual exercises.

Mystical union and spiritual desire in late-Reformation devotion: The case of Martin Moller's The Great Mystery (1595)

This article examines the complex relationship between early-modern Protestantism and medieval mysticism. It does so through a case study of a late-Reformation work of devotion, The Great Mystery (1595), which has received very little scholarly attention. The author of this treatise, Martin Moller, an experienced Lutheran pastor, was familiar with mystical literature and drew on it directly in his numerous works of devotion. Especially evident in The Great Mystery, which presents the relationship between Christ and the Christian as a spiritual marriage, is a theme which rarely appeared in the Lutheran devotional literature of the sixteenth century: spiritual desire for God. Moller developed an evangelical theology and spirituality of desire, which marked a crucial development in early-modern Lutheran devotion. The presence of this theme also provides a potential clue for the ‘mystical turn’ in the late Reformation and why this period may have experienced a ‘crisis of piety’.

“My Victorious Triumphs Are All Thine”: Romance and Elect Community in Lucy Hutchinson’s Order and Disorder

Reading Hutchinson’s Genesis epic Order and Disorder against John Dryden’s panegyric to Charles II, “Astraea Redux,” this essay argues that Dryden’s poem depicts the Restoration as the universalist telos to the turbulent romance of English history: God blesses all the nation’s people equally in their spiritual marriage to the king, an ecstatic union that subsumes distinctions of gender and ideology by reinscribing all subjects as feminine in sinfulness, as masculine by marriage, and as royalist. Hutchinson resists this triumphalist and masculinist narrative: in her romantic treatment of her biblical protagonists, she insists that both teleological plot and redemptive eroticism are gifts reserved for the Puritan elect, and she suggests that male and female believers need not be divided by hierarchical narrative perspective, sharing equally in the promise of reproduction and in prophetic glimpses of the still-remote “full Restoration.”

La grâce et l’humain dans l’union à Dieu. Interrogations scientifiques et théologiques sur le témoignage de sainte Thérèse d’Avila

Teresa of Avila associates spiritual marriage with extraordinary mystical phenomena: an intellectual vision of the Trinity, an intellectual and an imaginary vision of Christ. Comparing her testimony with that of Marie of the Incarnation and taking neurosciences and psychoanalysis into account leads us to update her principle of discrimination of the origin of such phenomena, and to propose a pastoral of transforming union that strongly relativizes them.

Sexual Desire, Piety, and Law in a Javanese Pesantren: Interpreting Varieties of Secret Divorce and Polygamy

Very little anthropological research has explored the polygamous worlds of women in Indonesia's traditional Islamic boarding schools known as pesantren. These traditional schools are patriarchal institutions that teach women to be ideal Muslims according to male-defined notions of shari'ah-based piety that construct polygamy as normative. This article challenges dominant discourses on polygamy, which are mostly concerned with public protest and feminist agendas that seek to have the practice banned, and instead reveals an agentive side of women in polygamous marriages. It examines the experiences of a group of pesantren women whose actions transgress state and Islamic laws on marriage and divorce in their endorsement of polygamous union and nikah batin (Sufi spiritual marriage). It builds on feminist arguments that recognise female agency in polygamy by considering the legal ambiguity surrounding secret and informal divorce and polygamous practices initiated by women restricted from obtaining legal divorces for socio-cultural reasons. In doing so, it further considers some aspects of a notion of a woman-centric polygamy that includes polyandry, which women create based on their understanding that Islam acknowledges women's sexual rights in marriage.

The Bride of Christ Goes to Hell: Metaphor and Embodiment In the Lives of Pious Women, 200–1500 by Dyan Elliott (review)

Reviewed by: The Bride of Christ Goes to Hell: Metaphor and Embodiment In the Lives of Pious Women, 200–1500 by Dyan Elliott Ericka Swensson Dyan Elliott, The Bride of Christ Goes to Hell: Metaphor and Embodiment In the Lives of Pious Women, 200–1500 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2011) 472 pp. Dyan Elliott’s monograph is a natural outgrowth of her previous work on spiritual marriage in the Christian church and her more recent scholarship on the relationship between the inquisition and the early modern European witch craze. In The Bride of Christ Goes to Hell, Elliott examines the metaphor of the sponsa Christi, or bride of Christ, as it evolved from the abstract to the literal. Elliott shows how the female mystics of the Middle Ages were “one link in the chain” (6) that united them to the so-called witches of the early modern period by examining the evolution of the sponsa Christi in western Europe from 200–1500 CE. Beginning with her analysis of the works of early church fathers, Elliott’s focus then travels northward to conclude her examination with the Beguines. In her first chapter, Elliott casts Tertullian, who was decidedly against marriage, as the unlikely originator of the sponsa Christi imagery. Elliott argues that in the late antique period there were two ways that early Christians understood the relationship between gender and chastity. The first was represented by the image of the virile woman whose chaste body, like the Desert Mothers and St. Perpetua, became male. The second category was that of the vita angelica which represented a “realized eschatology” (12) on earth in which the bodies of the chaste became androgynous like that of the angels. However, for Tertullian, the notion of the vita angelica became increasingly problematic as it created the context for miscegenation between (female) virgins and angels. Tertullian’s response was to cast the sexed human body as the point of difference between humans and angels, even in the afterlife. Tertullian then used the imagery of the sponsa Christi to place female virgins, not on par with angels or men, but at the mercy of their bridegroom. In chapter 2, Elliott broadens her scope to show how subsequent church fathers, including Cyprian, Origen, Athanasius, Ambrose, and Augustine, used the imagery of the sponsa Christi to moderate women’s dress and behavior, and to situate male clerics as authorities over consecrated virgins. One of the more interesting developments during this period was the way in which women increasingly began to embrace the imagery of the sponsa Christi which afforded them both a place of honor and a recognized legal and social status, albeit at great sacrifice. In her third chapter, Elliott examines the bride of Christ in the Barbarian West, demonstrating how the term came to include widows and mothers, as manifested in Aldhelm’s three degrees of female chastity. Elliott also explores the case of Queen Radegund, and her male and female hagiographers, who deployed the rhetoric of the sponsa Christi in various ways. In particular, Elliott focuses on Baudonivia’s life of Radegund claiming that her vita both anticipated the writings of subsequent female mystics and demonstrated how the sponsa Christi had become a “point of identification” not just imposed upon women but readily embraced by them. [End Page 258] Elliott explores the emergence of chaste heterosexual couples such as Abe-lard and Heloise in the eleventh and twelfth centuries in chapters 4 and 5, which coincided with increasing importance of the idea of consent in medieval marriage. Elliott also analyzes the unique relationship between women and their male confessors: labeling the phenomenon “heteroasceticism,” she describes it as a intense emotional attachment between a man and a women who are committed to a celibate life. Elliott argues that partners in these heteroascetic unions described themselves as participating in a quasi-conjugal union and, in doing so, directly engaged with the language of the sponsa Christi. However, the distinction between what she deems the “forebears” of heteroasceticism, represented by the relationships between Jerome and Paula or Fortunatus and Radegund, and the contemporary examples, such as Peter Damian, is not always clear. In chapter 6, Elliott discusses the emergence...

The Bride of Christ Goes to Hell: Metaphor and Embodiment in the Lives of Pious Women, 200–1500 (review)

General and MiscellaneousThe Bride of Goes to Hell: Metaphor and Embodiment in the Lives of Pious Women, 200-1500. By Dyan Elliott. [The Middle Ages Series.] (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2012. Pp. x, 662. $5995. ISBN 978-0-8122-4358-1.)In Bride of Goes to Dyan Elliott pursues themes addressed in earlier books: Spiritual Marriage: Sexual Abstinence in Medieval Wedlock (Princeton, 1993); Fallen Bodies: Pollution, Sexuality and Demonology in the Middle Ages (Philadelphia, 1998); and Proving Woman: Female Spirituality and Inquisitional Culture in the Later Middle Ages (Princeton, 2004). Elliott employs anthropological, feminist, literary, and psychoanalytic perspectives to interpret medieval texts related to female bodies and religious experience. She argues that the metaphor of as applied to virginal female religious, progresses in a downward spiral from symbol, to text, to embodiment, setting the stage for the eventual condemnation of women accused of mistaking the devil for Christ. Elliott further argues that as women embraced a spouse of Christ persona, some began to exhibit behaviors based on literal interpretations of the Song of Songs, behaviors that led ecclesial authorities to become suspicious of, and hostile to, female mysticism. Elliott writes, This book is in many ways a testimony to the mystical marriage's predatory symbolism (p. 2).To build her case, Elliott examines texts from the early church to the late Middle Ages. Key factors in her argument include the development of a burgeoning affective piety, a focus on the human Christ, devotion to the Passion and Eucharist, the erotic language of the Song of Songs, and Mary as the ultimate bride. In each of seven chapters, Elliott examines a central theme, highlighting the complexity and tensions of diverse attitudes toward marriage, virginity, sexuality, and women. She begins with the thesis that Tertullian's use of the bride metaphor functioned to exert control over consecrated virgins. As virginity (and the intact body) acquired more status (second only to martyrdom), patristic authors emphasized modest dress, strict discipline, seclusion, and clerical oversight (St. Cyprian of Carthage, Origen, St. Athanasius of Alexandria, St.Ambrose, St. Augustine). Elliott then turns to the Barbarian invasions and a discussion of the sixth- and seventh-century tension between virginal and nonvirginal brides (Thurigian Queen Radegun; Frankish noble matron Rictrude). Peter Abelard and Heloise embody the twelfth-century linkage of physical and mystical marriage and the emergence of monastic heterosexual couples whose spiritual bond simulated the intimacy of an actual marriage. St. Bernard of Clairvaux's Sermons on the Song of Songs (1135-53) is noted as a major influence on the sensual, embodied, and erotized image of the bride of found in the literature of the Beguines. Elliott concludes that the trajectory of the bride image culminates in a growing suspicion of female spirituality. final chapter, The Descent into Hell, argues that texts by John Gerson and John Nider (Malleus maleficaruni) invert the image of the mystical marriage amidst the rise of charges of magic, sorcery, and witchcraft against women religious. …