2 papers in the library · 1 citation · publishing 2014-2016
Fordham University Press eBooks September 1, 2016 Holly Hillgardner 1 citation
Holly Hillgardner develops a relational notion of the desiring self by reading the thirteenth-century Christian beguine Hadewijch in light of the sixteenth-century Vaisnava poet-saint Mirabai. Christian mysticism has often been read as moments of blissful union interspersed with long periods of painful absence, with union celebrated as the goal of the spiritual life. Mirabai, however,...
Journal of Hindu-Christian studies November 7, 2014 Holly Hillgardner
Mirabai, a sixteenth century bhakta, wrote passionate songs of her desire for God. Burning for him, she employed the genre of viraha-bhakti, a mystical eroticism of longing from the Vaiṣṇava tradition, as she begged for him to “[c]ome and extinguish the fire of separation.” Hadewijch, a thirteenth-century Beguine from low-country Europe, wrote poems, letters, and prose that tell of her longing...