“Nota de Clamore”

This chapter recounts how a fifteenth-century annotator has added “nota de clamor[e]” in the margin at the moment of Margery Kempe's “fyrst cry pat euyr sche cryed in any contemplacyon.” It mentions Hope Emily Allen, one of the earliest editors of Kempe's book, who observes that the marginal comment recalls Richard Rolle's description of his own tumultuous expression of divine love: “clamor iste canor est.” It also examines Allen's view that misunderstands Rolle and reads in Margery Kempe's tears and wails the possibility that Rolle's clamor is literal and physical. The chapter explores how Allen sets Kempe's spiritual understanding against other medieval mystics, such as the author of the late fourteenth-century treatise The Cloud of Unknowing. It shows how the Cloud-author advances a familiar distinction between bodily and spiritual sensation, which aligns the misunderstanding of the novice contemplative or would-be mystic with a desperate excess of labor.

Evaluating the Revival Experience of Korean Missionary Robert A. Hardie (1865–1949) in View of Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections

The purpose of this paper is to investigate what are Jonathan Edwards’ (1703–1758) “religious affections” and “distinguishing marks” for judging the genuineness of affections, and to evaluate the revival experience of Korean missionary Robert A. Hardie (1865–1949), who initiated the Korean Great Revival (1903–1910) in view of Edwards’ religious affections. Edward’s book, Treatise Concerning Religious Affections, was written in the historical background of the Great Awakening of the early 1740s, and the concept of religious affections originated from his personal experience in childhood and from the influence of John Locke’s empiricism. Rejecting the positions of the revivals of his day as unshackled emotionalism, Edwards defended revivalism by emphasizing the significance of “spiritual sensation”. However, he believed that revivals must be evaluated for their genuineness in terms of religious affections and suggested distinguishing marks to assess whether revival experiences were true or not. A number of descendants of the Great Awakening came to Korea as missionaries and contributed to the Korean Great Revival. In particular, Hardie’s repentance started the revival and the revival movements spread to the whole country in a similar pattern. This paper suggests that Hardie’s revival experience proves to be true gracious affection in light of Edwards’ distinguishing marks.

Triptychs, Eternity and the Spirituality of the Body

This paper develops a detailed reading of Deleuze's philosophical study of Bacon's triptychs in Francis Bacon: The Logic of Sensation. It examines his claims regarding their apparent non-narrative status, and explores the capacity of the triptychs to embody and express a spiritual sensation of the eternity of time.

Medieval Mysticism

An overview of the significance of emotions in mysticism during the medieval period would not be complete without an account of two other paradigms of affective arousal, namely, the suffering of Christ and the sacrifice of martyrdom. A mysticism of the passion of Christ, and of martyrdom as an imitation of the passion of Christ, emerged already in the early times of the church. In many ways, monastic asceticism follows this pattern, emphasizing acts of self-mortification, of spiritual martyrdom, and of mystical death, often invoking a psychomachy that includes the investment of the passions as well. The metamorphosis of the passions is based on practices that include the reading of the scriptures and mystical contemplation, but also liturgy and prayer. The practice of memory through reading, liturgy, and prayer that is at the center of the Christian life is for the most part also a practice of emotional stimulation. This article examines medieval mysticism, memory and prayer, spiritual sensation and emotion, negative theology and affective mysticism, and the link between the passion of Christ and the history of emotions.