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Reading Margery Kempe's inner voices.

Corinne Saunders¹, Charles Fernyhough²

¹Department of English Studies, Durham University, Durham, UK.

Postmedieval : a Journal of Medieval Cultural Studies

|May 4, 2018

Summary

Margery Kempe's spiritual experiences and inner voices are explored through contemporary research on voice-hearing and inner speech. This offers new psychological insights into her mystical book and spiritual meditation.

Area of Science:

Theology
Psychology
History

Background:

Margery Kempe's 15th-century mystical text is a significant historical document.
Previous interpretations often overlook the subjective, spiritual experiences central to her narrative.

Purpose of the Study:

To re-examine Margery Kempe's inner voices and spiritual experiences.
To connect historical accounts of mystical experiences with contemporary scientific understanding.

Main Methods:

Drawing on research from the "Hearing the Voice" project at Durham University.
Applying contemporary cognitive frameworks, particularly scientific accounts of inner speech.
Analyzing the multi-sensory richness of Kempe's depicted experiences.

Main Results:

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Kempe's inner voices and multi-sensory spiritual experiences are foregrounded as central to her "Book."
Contemporary voice-hearing experiences offer a parallel perspective to Kempe's.
Cognitive science provides tools to understand the psychology of Kempe's spiritual meditation.

Conclusions:

Margery Kempe's "Book" is best understood through an emphasis on inner, spiritual experience.
This interdisciplinary approach offers an alternative to purely bio-medical explanations of voice-hearing.
Scientific insights into inner speech illuminate the psychology of spiritual experiences.