Cataphasis, Visualization, and Mystical Space
The Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology February 25, 2020 David Albertson 14 citations
Cataphatic mystical theology, often dismissed through medieval binaries of power, gender, and literacy, should be re-examined as a practice of active spatial projection, navigation, and annotation. Drawing on pre-modern Christianity and modern space theories, mystical theologies can be understood as fundamentally spatial or geometrical phenomena. Applying this model to Hildegard of Bingen's major works, Scivias and Liber divinorum operum, reveals that her images construct complex spaces of enclosure—from Mary's womb to the cosmic egg to God's Wisdom. While these images remain static allegories in the earlier work, they gain mobility and depth in the later, demanding a more spatialized hermeneutics. Space thus proves a useful category for understanding cataphasis and the limits of apophasis today.