Mystics Visionaries And The Prophets

Unique in its range and depth, this lavish anthology for the first time captures in a single volume the most notable spiritual writings of leading women from all periods of Christian history.
Because spirituality involves more than simply prayer and piety, Madigan has selected women whose quests for intimacy with God also involve some visionary experience or social witness. Ranging form Perpetua in the third century to Mother Teresa and Edwina Gately in this century, her magnificent volume includes writings from both European women and, in the modern period, Asian, American, and African American women. Apart from redressing the heavy gender imbalance of most histories of Christianity, this volume also provides strong historical introductions to and bibliographies of the twenty-six women whose writings are generously excerpted.

Women included in this volume are: Perpetua the Martyr, Pelagia the Actress, Birgit of Ireland, Balthild the Queen of Neustria, Dhuoda of Septimania, Hildegard of Bingen, Heloise, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Gertrude the Great, Hadewijch, Julian of Norwich, Cathering of Siena, Margery Kempe, Teresa of Avila, Jane Grances de Chantal, Sojourner Truth, Maria Stewart, Gabrielle Bossis, Dorothy Day, Caryll Houselander, Pauli Murray, Laura Lopez and Silvia Maridel Arriola, Mother Teresa, Cho Wha Soon, Mercy Amba Oduyoye, and Edwina Gately.