Mi bodi henge with thi bodi neiled o rode: The gendering of the Pauline concept of crucifixion with Christ in medieval devotional prose for women

Abstract

This article explores the implications of gendering biblical texts through an examination of the use of the Pauline concept of crucifixion with Christ in the group of 13th-century texts known as the Katherine Group. Written for an audience of female religious recluses or anchoresses, these texts tie the image of being crucified with Christ to the spousal metaphor of the soul as the bride of Christ, figuring the anchoress's re-enactment of the incarnation and the crucifixion in profoundly feminine terms. The results are ambiguous: female flesh is transformed and empowered, yet this empowerment is tied to images of suffering and penance. This equivocal outcome has significant ramifications for feminist scholarship as we explore the implications of gendered language in the analysis and translation of biblical texts.

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