Abstract
This fascinating and original work by Bo Karen Lee, associate professor of spirituality and historical theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, is an outstanding contribution to the literature on the history of Christian spirituality, particularly in the early modern period. Through a close study of primary texts—some as yet untranslated from Latin—Lee offers a comparative account of the mystical theologies of two remarkable 17th-century female theologians, Anna Maria van Schurman and Madame Jeanne Guyon. Belonging to very different ecclesiastical contexts, they display a striking convergence of thought, particularly in the core place given to self-denial in their respective theological and spiritual journeys.
In the preface, Lee acknowledges the danger, and the historical reality, of the manipulation of theologies of self-denial for the purpose of abusing others, especially women. In the experience and writings of both van Schurman and Guyon, however, she discovers a surprising phenomenon. In both cases, the journey of self-denial proved entirely empowering in its nature, enabling Guyon “to overcome cruel hardships, including persecution from the church and royal court, and inhumane imprisonments,” and producing in van Schurman an inner strength and peace that allowed progression from “acquiescent female to self-possessed leader in her circle and beyond.” For both, this path was also “the secret to the greatest enjoyment possible in God.” Both women also suffered greatly on account of their perceived departure from the theological norms of their communities.
The main part of Lee’s study is composed of six chapters. In the first, she traces the roots of van Schurman’s and Guyon’s understanding of the enjoyment of God (fruitio Deo) to Augustine, while recognizing the existence of many variations of the idea in succeeding centuries and its eclipse during the Reformation conflict of the 16th century as well as its 17th-century aftermath. Van Schurman and Guyon succeeded in recovering both this idea and that of self-denial, which had also enjoyed a significant history in earlier Christian thought. Lee skilfully demonstrates the groundbreaking manner in which both writers linked self-denial with pleasure. Since, in their thought, a radical loss of self is required to make room for God, self-denial “becomes the secret to a more profound joy.”
In chapter 2, Lee explores the way in which the Calvinist van Schurman’s work, Eukleria, reveals her moving beyond the narrow confines of scholastic orthodoxy to embrace “both nascent Pietism and Catholic mysticism,” a development associated with her controversial joining of the community of Jean de Labadie. In a detailed exposition, Lee elucidates how, for van Schurman, self-denial became the key to union with God. The third chapter highlights van Schurman’s understanding of self-denial as essential for all Christians from the outset of the journey of discipleship, together with the consequent indispensability of grace, and the way in which grace works to bring about the self-denial that, in turn, leads to the outcome of union with God here and now.
The next two chapters follow the pattern of the previous two in exploring parallels in the thought of Madame Guyon. Chapter 4 offers a rich study of the idea of self-annihilation in Guyon’s Commentary on the Song of Songs. Banned by the religious authorities for its apparently aberrant focus on a “dead bride,” Guyon’s consistent aim was to make the point that “only an annihilated soul could be received into the chambers of the bridegroom.” Lee skilfully elucidates the tortured argument of the Commentary in tracing the soul’s “itinerary” from “spiritual betrothal” to “essential union” with God. The fifth chapter expounds the particular “mechanisms” by which, in Guyon’s theology, the soul progresses from spiritual betrothal to full marriage, exploring in particular the relationship between human and divine agency.
In the final chapter, Lee acknowledges the challenges involved in attempting to retrieve the thought of van Schurman and Guyon. Recognizing the limits of such appropriation, Lee is also right to invite contemporary consideration of the “ways in which their theological vision offers fresh insight.” In particular, their remarkable integration of a theology of sacrifice with a theology of delight “rehabilitates the often hidden beauty of self-denial, and offers an important corrective to a culture marked by convenience and consumerism.”
This fine study deserves a wide and thoughtful readership. Its value is enhanced by three valuable appendices, 47 pages of notes, an extensive bibliography, and an excellent index.