Path

Success

PathCreated with Sketch.

Warning

Path

Error

FREE SHIPPING Every Day With Purchases Of $60 Or More Of Eligible Items. Online Orders Only.
Cokesbury

Hearing Spiritual Voices

Medieval Mystics, Meaning and Psychiatry
  • By Christopher C. H. Cook
$81.49
Product Description

This open access book explores unusual perceptual, or perception-like, experiences. These are often meaningful to those who have them and may be sympathetically or unsympathetically interpreted by others. One interpretation, especially when voices are associated with unusual behaviour, is that they are evidence of mental disorder. Ostensibly such interpretations are sympathetic (showing concern for someone who is ill) but in practice they are used to deny the meaning and value of the experiences for those concerned, thus depriving them (and others) of creative and innovative ways of understanding the human condition. The question is thus one of the meaning. Are such experiences meaningful only as indicators of a diagnosis, or are they meaningful in other ways, shedding light on human self-understanding and perhaps even a wider spiritual reality? Psychiatry has tended to see such phenomena as diagnostically meaningful but not as sources of deeper insight into the human condition.

This book takes three 14th century examples of women who heard spiritually significant voices: Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, and Joan of Arc. Each of these women, in different ways, has left an enduring legacy in literature and history. Modern psychiatric commentary on the voices that they reported has generally focussed on diagnosis rather than on wider questions of meaning. These commentaries will be used as a lens through which to consider how contemporary psychiatric practice might be enriched by the humanities and enabled to find a more spiritually empathetic, if not also sympathetic, enriching and meaning enhancing perspective on unusual mental phenomena.

The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by The Wellcome Trust.

free shipping iconEligible For Free Shipping
Usually ships in 4-5 business days. Ships from a Cokesbury Connect Partner.
  • Additional Details
  • Kit components
    The following items and their quantities are included in the kit product: Hearing Spiritual Voices

    Quantity Included ItemFormatSKUIndividual Price
  • Additional Details
    Product Specs
    • SKU: 9780567707987
    • Manufacturer: BLOOMSBURY 3PL
    • ISBN 13: 9780567707987
    • Publication Date: 09/21/2023
    • Format: Hardcover
    • Author: Christopher C. H. Cook

     
    Shipping & Returns
    This item is available for return. At Cokesbury, we offer various expedited shipping methods for an additional charge during checkout. However, products with long lead times and those shipped from a Cokesbury Connect Partner are not eligible for expedited shipping. If you select expedited shipping at checkout and your order includes items that cannot be expedited, you will receive a notice explaining that not all items are eligible.