The Soul, Lover Of God
The lively and engaging emblems within The Soul, Lover of God unite the 17th century poetry and art of two famous European authors, Madame Jeanne de la Mothe Guyon and Jesuit priest Herman Hugo. Guyon writes poetry describing the soul falling in love with the divine, while Hugo’s illustrations imagine a description of the spiritual world. Charged with witchcraft by King Louis XIV, Madame Guyon kept this book during her incarceration in the Bastille before her legal vindication. Guyon and Hugo never met but they share the same yearning to love God, and they creatively capture how Divine Love might transform the willing soul. This book showcases the growing relationship between Anima, the soul, and Divine Love in the emblems’ first introduction to the English-speaking world.
The lively and engaging emblems within The Soul, Lover of God unite the 17th century poetry and art of two famous European authors, Madame Jeanne de la Mothe Guyon and Jesuit priest Herman Hugo. Guyon writes poetry describing the soul falling in love with the divine, while Hugo’s illustrations imagine a description of the spiritual world. Charged with witchcraft by King Louis XIV, Madame Guyon kept this book during her incarceration in the Bastille before her legal vindication. Guyon and Hugo never met but they share the same yearning to love God, and they creatively capture how Divine Love might transform the willing soul. This book showcases the growing relationship between Anima, the soul, and Divine Love in the emblems’ first introduction to the English-speaking world.
Bastille Witness - The Prison Autobiography of Madame Guyon
This translation of Madame Guyon’s prison autobiography provides a compelling account of her eight years of incarceration from 1695 to 1703. Her style is conversational and personal with a keen sense of spirituality in the midst of adversity. Madame Guyon’s lack of formal education, which was not offered to women especially in matters concerning theology, caused her published works to become suspect, confiscated, and condemned. These memoirs were never published in her lifetime and only came to light when the French scholar Marie-Louise Gondal identified the manuscript as a copy of the fourth part of her autobiography. Madame Guyon consistently maintained that she was innocent of all charges. She shows great courage and faith in these prison memoirs that shed light on her most difficult years, including the interrogation practices, the criticism of her writings, and the circumstances for her release. This text is a testimony to her perseverance and a tribute to her writing ability in those times of stress and constant humiliation.
This translation of Madame Guyon’s prison autobiography provides a compelling account of her eight years of incarceration from 1695 to 1703. Her style is conversational and personal with a keen sense of spirituality in the midst of adversity. Madame Guyon’s lack of formal education, which was not offered to women especially in matters concerning theology, caused her published works to become suspect, confiscated, and condemned. These memoirs were never published in her lifetime and only came to light when the French scholar Marie-Louise Gondal identified the manuscript as a copy of the fourth part of her autobiography. Madame Guyon consistently maintained that she was innocent of all charges. She shows great courage and faith in these prison memoirs that shed light on her most difficult years, including the interrogation practices, the criticism of her writings, and the circumstances for her release. This text is a testimony to her perseverance and a tribute to her writing ability in those times of stress and constant humiliation.
The Pure Love of Madame Guyon
In seventeenth-century France, Madame Guyon wrote about the concept of "pure love." "Love pure and holy, is a deathless fire," she wrote, and is "ethereal fare." Her popular books spread quickly through Europe and the New World, drawing the attention of Louis XIV and the court at Versailles. The Inquisition attacked her writing and concepts, resulting in her decade long incarceration, including years in the Bastille. Archbishop Fénelon defended Guyon while the leading cleric, Bishop Bossuet, demanded that the Vatican condemn Fénelon and Guyon as heretics. A contemporaneous historian wrote a history of the "Great Conflict" between Guyon, Bossuet, Fénelon, and the Vatican entitled Supplement to the Life of Madame Guyon, which is regarded as having been written in the eighteenth-century. Professor Nancy C. James's translation of this manuscript from the Bodleian Library at Oxford University is featured in this book, coupled with an analysis of the powerful theology of Guyon that influenced both the growth of the Quakers and Romanticism. This history addresses roots of our social conflicts as individual consciences struggle against destructive political power.
In seventeenth-century France, Madame Guyon wrote about the concept of "pure love." "Love pure and holy, is a deathless fire," she wrote, and is "ethereal fare." Her popular books spread quickly through Europe and the New World, drawing the attention of Louis XIV and the court at Versailles. The Inquisition attacked her writing and concepts, resulting in her decade long incarceration, including years in the Bastille. Archbishop Fénelon defended Guyon while the leading cleric, Bishop Bossuet, demanded that the Vatican condemn Fénelon and Guyon as heretics. A contemporaneous historian wrote a history of the "Great Conflict" between Guyon, Bossuet, Fénelon, and the Vatican entitled Supplement to the Life of Madame Guyon, which is regarded as having been written in the eighteenth-century. Professor Nancy C. James's translation of this manuscript from the Bodleian Library at Oxford University is featured in this book, coupled with an analysis of the powerful theology of Guyon that influenced both the growth of the Quakers and Romanticism. This history addresses roots of our social conflicts as individual consciences struggle against destructive political power.
Standing in the Whirlwind
This spiritual autobiography focuses on James's tumultuous tenure as a rector of two rural Episcopal parishes in Virginia after working at a Washington D.C. jail and teaching at Lorton Reformatory. Initially, both of James's parishes support her charitable idea of inviting homeless African American persons from Washington D.C. to join church socials. This acceptance, however, quickly changes to a malicious plot of a few parishioners who begin to mercilessly harass her, kill her pets, damage her property, and even attempt to arrange her "accidental" death. Some members of local law enforcement even take bribes, turning their backs on her cries for help. As a counterbalance to these horrific experiences, James finds solace and spiritual strength both in fondly recalling her childhood in Alaska and in the mystical theology of Madam Guyon, incarcerated by Louis XIV for being a female religious thinker.
This spiritual autobiography focuses on James's tumultuous tenure as a rector of two rural Episcopal parishes in Virginia after working at a Washington D.C. jail and teaching at Lorton Reformatory. Initially, both of James's parishes support her charitable idea of inviting homeless African American persons from Washington D.C. to join church socials. This acceptance, however, quickly changes to a malicious plot of a few parishioners who begin to mercilessly harass her, kill her pets, damage her property, and even attempt to arrange her "accidental" death. Some members of local law enforcement even take bribes, turning their backs on her cries for help. As a counterbalance to these horrific experiences, James finds solace and spiritual strength both in fondly recalling her childhood in Alaska and in the mystical theology of Madam Guyon, incarcerated by Louis XIV for being a female religious thinker.