In what varieties of ways is late medieval literature inflected by spiritual insight and desires? What weaves of literary cloth especially suit religious insight? In this collection dedicated to Elizabeth D. Kirk, Emeritus Professor of English at Brown University, several renowned scholars assess those related issues in a range of Medieval texts.

'Rarely does a book of essays honoring a professor have the range, depth, and distinction of this one. Medievalists with very varied interests - Chaucer, Langland, Gower, the Gawain poet, Franciscan thought, the cycle plays, Margery Kempe, and many others - will all find important contributions in this outstanding collection. Elizabeth Kirk should be proud indeed of Mindful Spirit.' - Gretchen Mieszkowski, University of Houston-Clear Lake

'This is a fascinating collection of interdisciplinary essays in honor of a fine scholar, ranging across literature and poetics, history, theology and iconography. Subjects include mnemonic techniques, affect and sovereignty in medieval drama, salvation and the soul in Piers Plowman, Wycliff's apparent support for women priests, and Amazons in La?amon. The volume includes important re-readings of poems by Chaucer in the light of contemporary events. Together, the essays form a medievalists' fair field, an of-the-moment display of work and wit.' - David Lawton, Washington University in St Louis

Autorentext
Bonnie Wheeler teaches at Southern Methodist University, USA where she directs the Medieval Studies Program. She has edited and co-edited fourteen books, among them Listening to Heloise and Heloise and the Paraclete (forthcoming). She was founding editor of the journal Arthuriana and is series editor for two Palgrave Macmillan book series, The New Middle Ages and Arthurian and Courtly Cultures.

Inhalt
The Lessons of Wit and Langland's ABCs; D.Baker The Spirituality of St. Erkenwald; M.Borroff On Marguerite d'Oingt; M-A. Bossy Ursulines and Amazons; E.J. Bryan The Medieval Aesthetic of 'Sweetness' and the Doctrine of Humors; M.Caruthers Literature of Franciscan Spirituality; L.M. Clopper Affecting Narrative; J.Nelson Crotch Love for One's Family v. Love for the Human Family; J.Ferster The Origins of Ancrene Wisse; L.Georgianna The Middle English Saint Francis; C.Ho Being Read Religiously by Late Medieval Texts; B.Keiser & M.Keiser Destiny Shaped by Spirit and Reason in the York Cycle; N.Kroll 'Cast Thy Bread Upon the Waters'; M.E.McAlpine Spirituality in Harley 2252; S.Milhauser 'Al that comith, comth by necessitee'; A.Minnis The Performance of the Sacred; L.Patterson The Dramatization of the Second Death in the Late-Thirteenth-Century Debate Poem 'Als I lay in a winteris nyt'; L.O.Purdon Souls that Matter; E.Robertson Margery Kempe as Luke's 'Woman in the Crowd'; A.Sanders The Rhetoric of Metaphor; G.Berkeley Sherman The Mark of Cain; E.Steiner Present at the Passion; R.Sturges