MECHTHILD OF MAGDEBURG
imagery drawn largely from the language of earthly passion," as opposed to the mystic whose "longing is to go out from his normal world in search of a lost home, a better country," as well as to the one whose "craving is for inward purity and perfection."[1]
In order to enter into the spirit of her writings, and particularly the prophetic ones, it is necessary to consider how the character and style of her work was induced and affected, on the one hand by her environment and her time, and on the other by her saintly nature and poetic temperament, as well as by her intimate and personal attitude towards things touching the inner life.
The world, in Mechthild's day, was in a state of unrest and of looked-for change. Mankind was ever haunted by forebodings of the approaching happening of something momentous. Whole-hearted faith in the Church was waning, and although outward conformity still prevailed, there existed very diverse opinions, tolerated so long as they did not become too obtrusive. Prophetic writings, giving expression to the yearnings of the time—yearnings fomented and fostered by the prevailing misery caused, in no small degree, by the wars between Pope and Emperor—taught that the world was on the brink of a new era. One of the most influential of these writings, entitled The Eternal Gospel,
- ↑ For the suggestive elaboration of this threefold classification, see Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism, chap. vi. p. 151 seq.
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