The Master and Marguerite: Godfrey of Fontaines' praise of The Mirror of Simple Souls*

This article examines the evidence for the intellectual and practical relationship between Marguerite Porete and the secular master of theology Godfrey of Fontaines. It analyses the nature, timing, and importance of Godfrey's response to The Mirror of Simple Souls, and argues that considering the interaction between these two figures has important consequences for our understanding of both of their careers.     

The Master and Marguerite: Godfrey of Fontaines' praise of The Mirror of Simple Souls*

This article examines the evidence for the intellectual and practical relationship between Marguerite Porete and the secular master of theology Godfrey of Fontaines. It analyses the nature, timing, and importance of Godfrey's response to The Mirror of Simple Souls, and argues that considering the interaction between these two figures has important consequences for our understanding of both of their careers.     

Natural and supernatural virtues in the thirteenth century: the case of Marguerite Porete’s Mirror of Simple Souls

This article argues that Marguerite Porete’s seemingly unorthodox presentation of the virtues in the Mirror of Simple Souls is not a critique of scholastic learning, but in fact reflects the thirteenth-century university discourse on this topic. The rediscovery of Aristotelian thought in this period led to the redefinition of the standard Augustinian definition of virtue as being divinely infused. Philip the Chancellor’s discussion of cardinal virtues in particular prompted thinkers to distinguish between natural and supernatural virtues. It is contended that the Soul’s abandonment of the virtues should not be read as a rejection of the virtues, but rather as the affirmation that only supernatural virtues lead to God. A consideration of how Godfrey of Fontaines, theologian and reader of the Mirror, understands the virtues confirms the basic orthodoxy of Marguerite Porete’s position, lending further support to the argument that the Mirror echoes sophisticated scholastic ideas.     

What's in a name? Clerical representations of Parisian beguines (1200-1328)

This article examines how Parisian university clerics responded to the city's communities of beguines (uncloistered religious women), highlighting in particular the ways in which clerics employed the term ‘beguine’ in sermons and preaching material from thirteenth-century Paris. Because the beguines were not hidden behind convent walls but were instead a visible presence in the city, they were often the focus of Parisian clerics' ideas about religious women. Sermons preached, composed, and copied in Paris reveal the process by which Parisian medieval thinkers constructed, although not always consciously, a negative meaning for the term ‘beguine.’ Always poorly defined, ‘beguine’ evoked a wide variety of meanings and associations for clerical observers in medieval Paris. The varied ideas about and images of the beguine allowed the Parisian intellectual elite to include these women in discussions of their own position in society as clerics in charge of the religious instruction of the laity. Clerics used the beguine as an example of the contemplative life, often comparing their own intellectual approaches to religious knowledge with the beguines' mystical knowledge. These positive comparisons, however, were joined by negative accusations when clerics expressed concern that the beguine thought too highly of her spiritual gifts.     

What's in a name? Clerical representations of Parisian beguines (1200-1328)

This article examines how Parisian university clerics responded to the city's communities of beguines (uncloistered religious women), highlighting in particular the ways in which clerics employed the term ‘beguine’ in sermons and preaching material from thirteenth-century Paris. Because the beguines were not hidden behind convent walls but were instead a visible presence in the city, they were often the focus of Parisian clerics' ideas about religious women. Sermons preached, composed, and copied in Paris reveal the process by which Parisian medieval thinkers constructed, although not always consciously, a negative meaning for the term ‘beguine.’ Always poorly defined, ‘beguine’ evoked a wide variety of meanings and associations for clerical observers in medieval Paris. The varied ideas about and images of the beguine allowed the Parisian intellectual elite to include these women in discussions of their own position in society as clerics in charge of the religious instruction of the laity. Clerics used the beguine as an example of the contemplative life, often comparing their own intellectual approaches to religious knowledge with the beguines' mystical knowledge. These positive comparisons, however, were joined by negative accusations when clerics expressed concern that the beguine thought too highly of her spiritual gifts.     

Confraternal religion: from liberation theology to political reversal

Heterodox mystics and heretics of any kind can be sometimes dangerous and other times reliable depending upon political situations, as was the case with Bektashis in Ottoman Anatolia or in early independent Albania. The historical anthropology perspective taken in this article appears helpful in revealing that Bektashism is probably the mystical order of Islam that best exemplifies a transformational pattern from a theological and ideological, as well as cultural, social and political, point of view. The system of beliefs and practices related to Bektashism seems to correspond to a kind of liberation theology, whereas the structure of Bektashi groups corresponds more or less to the type of religious organization conventionally known as “charismatic groups”. It becomes understandable, therefore, that their spiritual tendency can meet social, cultural and national perspectives. In turn, when the members of the previously persecuted religious minority have already acquired a degree of religious and political respectability within society at large, the doctrines of heterodoxy and liberation theology fade into the background. In the end, the heirs of the heterodox promoters of spiritual reform and social movement turn into followers and faithful defenders of a legitimate authority. They become the spokespeople for an institutionalized orthodoxy whose support will be sought by the political regime.     

Rescuing the Future: César Vallejo and Postcolonial Thought

This article explores some of the ways in which the Heptaméron's thirteenth nouvelle plays upon epistolary expectations established by medieval letter-writing traditions, and it suggests how sixteenth-century epistolary exchange had shifted from its medieval antecedents, particularly in regard to the materiality of letters. It also considers the implications of Marguerite's epistolary play for the letter-writing landscape and for the subject at the very heart of the Heptaméron: love, and the fictions we necessarily engage in writing about it.     

开展远程教育的必要性

开展现代远程教育是经济和社会发展的要求。现代远程教育将信息技术融于教育教程,可以全方位地为各类社会成员提供教育服务,填补传统教育的不足和空白,是提高国民素质促进经济发展和社会进步的重要推动力之一。本文针对开展远程教育的必要性和重要性提出了一些作者的看法。     

Arena symposium: equal opportunities

The Internet is a hospitable medium for distance learning. Some geography educators fear that distance education confronts the discipline with a moral dilemma, however. One, in particular, acknowledges some of the advantages of distance learning, but contends that it cannot convey the sense of place that is 'the essence of what it means to be a geographer'. This paper is concerned with the morality of distance learning. In particular, it considers educators' obligations to deliver quality education, and to make it as widely accessible as possible. The paper stresses that the key distinction between distance learning and traditional resident instruction is not the mode of delivery, nor is it the distances in time and space that separate students and teachers. Rather, it is that distance learners are a qualitatively different, older population, with different educational needs from traditional on-campus undergraduates and graduate students. The paper argues that geography educators have a moral obligation to serve lifelong learners, an obligation that should take precedence over our allegiance to conventional notions about what constitutes the essence of our field.     

Facing the future,surviving the present: strategies for women graduate students in geography

Abstract

Women graduate students in geography programs in US universities face a variety of constraints and opportunities as they work towards advanced degrees and struggle to find a place for themselves in academia. The themes discussed in this paper concern understanding and challenging power relationships, networking, developing communication skills and effective mentoring. The paper concludes with suggestions for positive action and change.     

List of figures and acknowledgements

The purpose of this section of the Journal of medieval history is to include a brief notice of new books in medieval history, and to list new editions and reprints, appearing during the months immediately preceding the date of publication of each issue. The Journal will not carry reviews; it asks publishers to send, instead of copies of new books, brief notices about them of not more than 150 words in length. To meet the cost of this exercise, the Journal is obliged to charge a fee of $10 (£5) for a brief announcement (max. 150 words) and $5 (£2.50) for listing a reprint or new edition. Texts of such announcements and details of reprints, together with remittance, should be sent to the Publisher, from whom further details of the scheme may be had.     

‘Like man and wife’: clerics’ concubines in the diocese of Barcelona

Clerical concubinage was a persistent problem throughout the Middle Ages, but scholars have largely ignored the historical experience of the women involved. Parish visitation records from the early fourteenth-century diocese of Barcelona reveal a wealth of information about these women. Although their lives were in part circumscribed by an inherently gendered legal category, their day-to-day lives and interactions with other members of their communities depended on more than their legal status, and were in fact as diverse as those of women in legitimate marital unions.     

‘Like man and wife’: clerics’ concubines in the diocese of Barcelona

Clerical concubinage was a persistent problem throughout the Middle Ages, but scholars have largely ignored the historical experience of the women involved. Parish visitation records from the early fourteenth-century diocese of Barcelona reveal a wealth of information about these women. Although their lives were in part circumscribed by an inherently gendered legal category, their day-to-day lives and interactions with other members of their communities depended on more than their legal status, and were in fact as diverse as those of women in legitimate marital unions.     

殷淳《妇人集》及《妇人诗集》考论——兼与许云和《南朝妇人集考论》一文商榷

在诸史书目录志所著录的南朝共十部妇人集中,刘宋时殷淳撰《妇人集》与《妇人诗集》可以被认为是我国现存最早的女性作品总集,不仅开创了我国文学编纂史上撰辑女性总集的风气,并影响到从南朝梁至清代系列女性作品总集的编纂。《妇人集》的内容虽然只残存于《世说新语》、《太平御览》等书中,但已可见出撰者对待女性创作的肯定意识和前瞻心态,亦可见出汉魏六朝女性作者的文才文论与群体风貌。     

解读“施教”类遗产

在中国的“全国重点文物保护单位”中有一种发挥着独特作用的遗产,从其诞生之初起就承担着传播知识、完善人格、服务社会的功能,即“施教场所”,包括书院教育类、大学教育类、革命教育类三种;这些遗产所发挥的作用不仅仅是物质的,更在非物质层面具有深远意义,它们不仅呈现着中国教育脉络、体现着中国教育精神,而且极大丰富了当代文化建设、助推了当代文化旅游发展,因此需要倍加珍惜与审慎利用.