Margery And Medieval Christians example essay topic

Religion in the Middle Ages takes on a character all of its own as it is lived out differently in the lives of medieval men and women spanning from ordinary laity to vehement devotees. Though it is difficult to identify what the average faith consists of in the Middle Ages, the life told of a radical devotee in The Book of Margery Kempe provides insight to the highly intense version of medieval paths of approaching Christ. Another medieval religious text, The Cloud of Unknowing, provides a record of approaching the same Christ. I will explore the consistencies and inconsistencies of both ways to approach Christ and religious fulfillment during the Middle Ages combined with the motivations to do so on the basis of both texts.

A central component of medieval religion that is evident in even the slightest dissection of the life of Margery Kempe or the directed discipline from the author advising contemplation is an unmistakable desire for religious experience. Even among married men and women who are occupied with family responsibilities, lay people during this time such as we see in the life of Margery herself are seeking more intense religious ways of living. Margery, as the example, lived with her husband with whom she had fourteen children. Growing up influenced by the church, her spirituality came to a heightened level when she and her Jesus began having actual communication with one another. While the church was catalyzing religious experience in medieval communities, upon the realization of direct mystical connection with Christ in the lives of people such as Margery, the desire for the inward search for spiritual satisfaction spread. Another tendency of those practicing religion in the Middle Ages is to take Jesus' words from the Bible to a new literal level affecting medieval lifestyles across the board.

Where monks and nuns had typically been the only observers of chastity, fasting, and poverty, laity began to observe these life practices as well. In Margery Kempe's life, this apodictic understanding of Jesus' biblically recorded or spoken words is evident among her commitment to make vows of chastity, her desire to embark on long pilgrimages, and her steps of unquestionable obedience as she advances on her spiritual journey. The absolute submission of Margery and the dedication to perfect contemplation in The Cloud of Unknowing which warns, .".. you are not to read it... unless you really believe that he is a person deeply committed to follow Christ perfectly", identify the seriousness of medieval desire for spirituality (43). Pursuing such spiritual fulfillment is a responsibility not to be taken lightly. Often, literal commands of Jesus such as pilgrimages have two and three fold benefits. Besides the very physical connections with the sacred that they offer arriving at places of sacred history, pilgrimages are also a form of penance for sins.

Because of the sacrifice of time, money, and risk to make these pilgrimages, best seen by Kempe's outrageous devotion in leaving behind her life and family for long periods of time, pilgrimages assist in erasing sins in ones life. Another reason that Margery and medieval Christians would embark on these pilgrimages is for the reverence of saints and their relics that they would visit. The Middle Ages emphasized an important connection to the lives of past saints believing that the saints still had power to intercede blessings into the lives of religious people on Earth. Where Margery is set a part from common laity, during her pilgrimage to Jerusalem she receives a special spiritual gift of "cryings" that she can not control when religious emotion comes over her.

Describing these outbursts, the author of her autobiography says, "The crying was so loud and so amazing that it astounded people... ". (Windeatt, 104). It is assumable that emotional experiences upon pilgrimages of either laity or monastics to such places as the Holy Land would be common, however that people were astonished by Margery's powerful "cryings" is evidence that her reactions to such places are atypical in intensity.

Margery Kempe believed herself to be an intercessor of help for those who had already passed away after death into purgatory. This reflects the medieval concern for the dead that is central to their religious responsibility. Medieval Christians hold that they may expect to endure suffering after death in order to pay for their unforgiven sins; however, the prayers or good deeds of the living, such as Margery Kempe, can be exchanged for their pensions. Margery reports of her experiences in this responsibility, asking God,'. .. in weeping... it is fully my will that you give half to Master R. to the increase of his merit, as if he did these things himself' (Windeatt, 55). The act of weeping in suffering is equivalent to pay off the debt of one's sins, and that medieval Christians like Margery would do so for others, such as Master R., expresses their extreme interest in the livelihood of their brothers and sisters in Christ. Another significant characteristic of Medieval Christians such as Margery Kempe is their identification with Jesus and their devotion to Mary, mother of Jesus.

Margery expresses her relationship with Christ as she suffers alongside Him feeling the passion of Christ. Christ speaks to her, 'suffer patiently... for tears of compunction, devotion and compassion are the highest gifts... that I give on Earth' (Windeatt, 66). This passionate understanding is comparable to the spiritual journey of contemplation in The Cloud of Unknowing which also notes that spiritual gifts are gifts from God; however, to pursue the cloud of unknowing such gifts as 'tears of compunction' are supposed to elapse in 'the cloud. ' Also, Margery's reciting of Mary's passion and suffering as she lost her son the Savior resembles a medieval mindset which holds suffering as salvific. Margery continues her life encouraging others to suffer on behalf of Christ's affliction and the suffering of Mary, and continues to look herself for more ways that she can do so. Medieval Christians also regard highly the cultivated relationship between themselves and their confessors whose role is to allow laity to confess their sins for cleansing in the effort to approach Christ's likeness.

For Margery, her most dependent relationship on Earth is this one which paves for her the path to her spiritual father and lover, though for her an intercessor is not always necessary. Regardless, her confessor is her spiritual guide on Earth and her confessions are more than ritualistic causing her to be highly selective of those who fulfill this position in her life. Another prized relational model with the divine that flowered in the Middle Ages is the mystical experience of God that the anonymous writer of The Cloud of Unknowing shares about how to conduct direct and immediate knowledge of God through a personal religious experience. The popularity of this mysticism in the Middle Ages is attributed, for one, to its original intent being for specific communities of monastics. In contrast to the mystic life of laywoman Margery Kempe, The Cloud of Unknowing suggests that only those who have briefly experienced the active life of a Christian, such as monks, are capable of pursuing this spiritual path of contemplation. Similar to the preparation for the mystic life of Margery Kempe, approaching the life of contemplation should also involve a relationship with a spiritual advisor or mentor who will guide the Christian in their journey.

Much like this precaution, Margery, as I have discussed, is careful to choose wise confessors and pastors to study under. To suggest another comparison of the texts, both the author of The Cloud of Unknowing and Margery Kempe also suggest taking pilgrimages as part of their spiritual journeys for many of the same reasons of spiritual enrichment and reparation. The Pseudo-Dionysium way of understanding mysticism and the cloud of unknowing holds several understandings of religion in contrast to The Book of Margery Kempe. For example, the understanding that God is ineffable to the human mind is clearly not Margery's grasp of her spiritual father.

Where Margery holds that her unique relationship with Christ is at its least exclusively intimate, the contrary way of understanding would prohibit her approach of understanding Christ. Secondly, the Pseudo-Dionysium way of thinking also holds that approaching the spiritual path of contemplation or a relationship with the divine begins with apathetic knowledge of oneself. Self negation allows for God to be more clearly concentrated in ones life. The author of The Cloud of Unknowing goes as far as to direct, .".. cover and conceal your desire from God", purposely because to neglect all emotions of ones inner self includes that of desire (108). Jesus commands to Margery the contrary saying on one occasion. ".. go again to her husband and pray him to grant her what she desired" (Windeatt, 59).

Margery lived well aware of her desires and, though they often caused temporary conflict such as her chastity, did not neglect herself to such extremes as hiding the desires of her heart or the absence of knowledge. Similarly of the two texts, the practice of contemplation suggests that one comes to know God on the basis of both intellect and emotions. Margery clearly understands this emotional tie to the divine in her relation to the passion of both Christ and Mary and her sufferings on the behalf of them both. Though most probably did not practice their faith as devoutly as Margery Kempe, the central concerns of her life coupled with the practices taught in The Cloud of Unknowing reveal a faith that is defining of Medieval Christianity.

Both texts act as a mirror reflecting the Middle Ages and come down to a same key ingredient: desire. Never has there been a time like the Middle Ages where the prevalent desire to physically and emotionally experience the truths of religion was so widespread and evident in the lives of Christians.