University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository History ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 8-31-2011 "There is a Threeness About You": Trinitarian Images of God, Self, and Community Among Medieval Women Visionaries Donna E. Ray Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds Recommended Citation Ray, Donna E.. ""There is a Threeness About You": Trinitarian Images of God, Self, and Community Among Medieval Women Visionaries." (2011). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/hist_etds/65 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in History ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. “THERE IS A THREENESS ABOUT YOU”: TRINITARIAN IMAGES OF GOD, SELF, AND COMMUNITY AMONG MEDIEVAL WOMEN VISIONARIES BY DONNA E. RAY B.A., English and Biblical Studies, Wheaton College (Ill.), 1988 M.A., English, Northwestern University, 1992 M.Div., Princeton Theological Seminary, 1995 S.T.M., Yale University, 1999 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy History The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico July, 2011 ©2011, Donna E. Ray iii DEDICATION For Harry iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Timothy Graham, Dr. Nancy McLoughlin, Dr. Anita Obermeier, and Dr. Jane Slaughter, for their valuable recommendations pertaining to this study and assistance in my professional development. I am also grateful to fellow members of the Medieval Latin Reading Group at the UNM Institute for Medieval Studies (Yulia Mikhailova, Kate Meyers, and James Dory-Garduño, under the direction of Dr. Graham), who collaborated with me on the translations appended to this dissertation. I would also like to thank my family, especially my parents, Don and Lorna Ray, my husband Harry Van Buren, and our daughters Annelise and Tessa, for their love and support during the writing process. v “THERE IS A THREENESS ABOUT YOU”: TRINITARIAN IMAGES OF GOD, SELF, AND COMMUNITY AMONG MEDIEVAL WOMEN VISIONARIES BY DONNA E. RAY ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy History The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico July, 2011 “THERE IS A THREENESS ABOUT YOU”: TRINITARIAN IMAGES OF GOD, SELF, AND COMMUNITY AMONG MEDIEVAL WOMEN VISIONARIES BY DONNA E. RAY B.A., English and Biblical Studies, Wheaton College (Ill.), 1988 M.A., English, Northwestern University, 1992 M.Div., Princeton Theological Seminary, 1995 S.T.M., Yale University, 1999 Ph.D., History, University of New Mexico, 2011 ABSTRACT Despite the ineffability of the Holy Trinity, not to mention its logical impossibility— that the three persons of the Godhead are also one—many medieval thinkers tried hard to capture its essence and importance. Among the richest and most original medieval images of the Trinity were those produced by women visionaries. This is a comparative study of seven of these women—Hildegard of Bingen, Mechthild of Hackeborn, Gertrude of Helfta, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Hadewijch of Brabant, Julian of Norwich, and Christine de Pizan—and their visionary experiences, related through both word and image, of the Holy Trinity. While they were careful to claim doctrinal orthodoxy, these women produced visionary images of the Trinity that were unique, colorful, and diverse: the Holy Trinity might be Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but it might also include a mother or a sister. It might vii consist of three kinds of apples on one tree, three properties of stone, three bodily functions, three regal ladies, or a three-fold rainbow. Visionary women readily acknowledged the difficulty of representing the divine in a way that was neither reductionistic nor presumptuous. Juggling a diverse set of images, they skillfully expressed the inexhaustible mystery of God and the complexity of the doctrine of the Trinity. They gave insight as well into the ways that humans, created in the image of God, reflect the relationality, equality, and multiplicity of roles that inhere in God‘s threeness. In their devotion to the Holy Trinity in its providential and salvific roles (the ―economic Trinity‖), these women provide a powerful counterpoint to medieval academic preoccupation with the structure of God‘s inner life (the ―immanent Trinity‖). In depicting the triune God as independent and exalted yet passionately involved in identity and community formation, these women produced a holistic theology of the Trinity. Thus they have an important place in the historical development of the doctrine of God, for both its theological and social implications. They may provide useful models as well in ongoing interpretations of Trinitarian doctrine. viii Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 Approaches to Mystical and Visionary Experience .................................................... 10 Women, Vision, and Authority ................................................................................... 15 Approaches to the Holy Trinity .................................................................................. 23 Chapter 2: Historical Background to the Doctrine of the Trinity................................... 31 Biblical Basis of the Trinity ........................................................................................ 32 Divine Unity and Plurality in the Hebrew Scriptures ..................................... 32 Evidence for the Trinity in the New Testament .............................................. 35 The Trinity in the Liturgy ........................................................................................... 40 Ante-Nicene Trinitarian Theology .............................................................................. 42 Fourth- and Fifth-Century Ferment in Trinitarian Theology ...................................... 54 The Cappadocian Synthesis ............................................................................ 58 Augustine and the Trinity ............................................................................... 62 Trinitarian Developments in the Early Medieval Period (500-1050) ......................... 66 Trinitarian Theology in the High and Late Middle Ages (1050-1500) ...................... 69 Chapter 3: The Holy Trinity in Medieval Art and Iconography .................................... 86 Depictions of the Trinity in the Early Church (through the Fourth Century) ............. 89 Trinitarian Images between the Fourth and Twelfth Centuries .................................. 91 Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century Visual Images of the Trinity .................................. 93 Trinitarian Images of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries .................................... 96 Chapter 4: Hildegard of Bingen’s Cosmic Trinity in Twelfth-Century Context ......... 101 Hildegard‘s Twelfth-Century Context ...................................................................... 106 ix Hildegard‘s Trinitarian Texts and Images ................................................................ 113 Hildegard‘s Trinitarian Visions in the Scivias .......................................................... 115 Trinitarian Vision in the Liber divinorum operum ................................................... 134 Hildegard‘s Trinitarian Theology in Letters and Exposition .................................... 137 Chapter 5: Flowing and Melting Trinity: Hadewijch of Brabant and the Women of Helfta in Thirteenth-Century Context .................................................................. 148 Mechthild of Hackeborn ........................................................................................... 151 Gertrude of Helfta ..................................................................................................... 156 Mechthild of Magdeburg .......................................................................................... 160 Mechthild‘s Theology of the Trinity............................................................. 165 Influences on Mechthild‘s Theology and Spirituality .................................. 171 Hadewijch of Brabant ............................................................................................... 179 Chapter 6: Julian of Norwich’s Passionate Trinity in Fourteenth-Century Context .. 192 The Fourteenth-Century Context .............................................................................. 192 The Showings ............................................................................................................ 197 Julian‘s Trinitarian Theology .................................................................................... 206 Trinity as Mother .......................................................................................... 210 Enclosure in the Trinity ................................................................................ 218 The Human Being as Imago Trinitatis.......................................................... 225 Salvation in the Trinity ................................................................................. 229 Chapter 7: Christine de Pizan’s Regal Trinity in Early Fifteenth-Century Context ... 234 Christine‘s Context and Writings.............................................................................