Bride of Christ Goes to Hell: Metaphor and Embodiment in the Lives of Pious Women, 200-1500

The term "bride of Christ" was first used by Tertullian to describe high-status virgins in Carthage as a way to promote female obedience. In the early Middle Ages, virginity and its loss were emphasized, which led to claustration and disparagement of nonvirgins. With the rise of bridal mysticism and a progressive somatization of female spirituality, women began to undergo mystical enactments of their union with Christ, including ecstatic consummations and vivid phantom pregnancies. This led to church authorities' fear of the witch and her carnal induction into the Sabbath.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 480 pages
Publication date: 09 October 2020
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

The early Christian writer Tertullian coined the term "bride of Christ" to describe the virtuous and submissive women of Carthage, aiming to uphold female obedience. This association led to the expectation of matronly modesty and submission from the virgin as Christ's spouse, diminishing the ancient power of virginity to challenge gender roles. During the early Middle Ages, the emphasis on virginity and its potential loss reinforced claustration in female religious communities, while also disparaging nonvirginal members. As the significance of intentionality in spiritual profiling increased in the high Middle Ages, the title of bride could be extended to laywomen who were nonvirgins, coinciding with the rise of bridal mysticism and a progressive somatization of female spirituality. This period witnessed mystical enactments of women's union with Christ, including ecstatic consummations and vivid phantom pregnancies. Female mystics also developed intimate relationships with their confessors and other clerical confidants, often representing the celestial bridegroom. The dramatic fusion of the spiritual and physical in female expressions of religiosity alarmed church authorities, leading to fears of witchcraft and its carnal induction into the Sabbath.

Weight: 728g
Dimension: 152 x 228 x 35 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780812224764