Acknowledgements
The New Testament describes how Jesus, before he was crucified, washed his disciples’ feet. When Jesus comes to wash Peter’s feet, Peter asks, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” He seems to feel in the moment that it is not right for Rabbi Jesus, his master and teacher, to wash the feet of a student. Jesus replies, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand” (John 13:7). These words resonate with my experience. So often, I do not realize the fullness of what is happening in any given moment, but later, I come to understand. The experience is rather like the experience of a gardener when she plants a seed. Maybe she knows what kind it is, and anticipates that a certain kind of plant or tree, flower or fruit, will grow from it. But she doesn’t know precisely how it will grow, or exactly what the growing thing will look like, for plants and trees may be of similar kinds, but each one is unique.
As the editor of Illuminating Jesus in the Middle Ages, I have felt a little bit like a gardener. I didn’t make any of the seeds that led to the chapters in this book, but I tended them. I tried to do my best to bring them to fruition. I am very thankful to the contributors to this volume who have worked with me in a vast garden of ideas in order to create this book: Nancy Van Deusen, George Hardin Brown, Larry Swain, Tomás O Cathasaigh, Thomas Cattoi, Linda Stone, Rob Lutton, Andrew Galloway, Barbara Zimbalist, Donna Trembinski, Aaron Canty, Vittorio Montemaggi, Lesley Sullivan, Michael Kuczynski, Julia Bolton Holloway, and Paul Patterson. We began our work together in 2014, and five years later, it is good to see the results.
The idea for this book first began to grow when I was editing Illuminating Moses: A History of Reception from the Exodus to the Renaissance (Brill, 2014). I have long been interested in the history of ideas, and in reception aesthetics, especially in the medieval period. Producing Illuminating Moses proved to be a meaningful opportunity to consider the reception of the founder of Judaism, Moses, in diverse medieval cultures and writings. The natural sequel seemed to me to be a book about Jesus, the originator of Christianity. I began discussing this with the members of the Society for the Study of the Bible in the Middle Ages (SSBMA), but many of us felt overwhelmed by the prospect of producing a book about the reception of Jesus in the Middle Ages. The subject was too vast; the materials available for analysis, over-abundant.
At the same time, we recognized an irony: despite the undeniable impact of Jesus on medieval history, literature, and culture, there have not been many recent academic conference sessions, conferences, or books in medieval studies dedicated to exploring how ideas about Jesus were received and developed in the Middle Ages. We could see this just by glancing through the conference programs for the International Medieval Congress (Leeds, England), the International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, Michigan), and the Medieval Academy of America as well as by browsing the books at the booksellers’ stalls at our favorite medieval conferences – not to mention the more usual scholarly methods that involve searching libraries bookshelves and databases. We noticed that some of our undergraduate, graduate students, and junior colleagues did not seem cognizant of the tremendous impact of ideas and interpretations of Jesus in our shared field of study. Could we contribute something significant to the discipline of medieval studies if we collaborated on a book about Jesus in the Middle Ages, one that might lead to greater awareness and appreciation of such a vast, if ironically neglected, subject?
The work of three other prominent medievalists who have written on the reception of Jesus in medieval cultures suggested that, at the very least, the attempt would be worthwhile. As is well known, Carolyn Walker Bynum’s book Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages (1984) has been influential for thirty-five years. Two scholars have recently followed in Bynum’s footsteps: Rabia Gregory in Marrying Jesus in Medieval and Early Modern Northern Europe: Popular Culture and Religious Reform (2015) and Mary Dzon in The Quest for the Christ Child in the Later Middle Ages (2017).
Like Bynum, Gregory, and Dzon, I wanted to acknowledge that Jesus was understood in medieval Christian cultures, especially contemplative communities, as mother, bridegroom, and child, but also in a variety of other roles acknowledged inside and outside of the cloister: as the “anointed one” in the Psalms, a miracle-worker, a healer, a hero, a parable storyteller, the Logos, and the “I Am,” who could be compared in his incarnation to a unicorn or, in Dante’s Divine Comedy, a griffin (whose two natures are likened to Christ’s humanity and divinity), and who influenced spiritual practices by many medieval Christians (exemplified by such men as Saint Francis and such women as Gertrude of Helfta and Julian of Norwich who lived in imitatio Christi), and whose very name, abbreviated IHS, was considered sacred and whose crucified body was remembered in the sacrament of the Eucharist and the Feast of Corpus Christi. I began to inquire with a number of medievalists I knew about whether they might be willing to write on these subjects, and to my surprise and delight, they were.
With the hope that, together the contributors, I could cast more light on the reception of Jesus in the Middle Ages, I proposed the book project to the board of Commentaria, which oversees a significant academic series published by Brill. The proposal was subsequently approved and the book invited. As the editor of Illuminating Jesus in the Middle Ages, I am very thankful to the members of the Commentaria board and Brill for forming the partnership with me that has allowed this book to be produced.
As the book progressed, I thought it would be a good idea for the contributors who were writing chapters to have an opportunity to meet and discuss their work in person. I am thankful to Elizabeth Teviotdale and her team, who share the responsibility of coordinating sessions at the International Congress in Medieval Studies held annually at the University of Western Michigan in Kalamazoo, for approving our SSBMA conference session on “Illuminating Jesus in the Middle Ages” for the May 2018 Congress. The participants in the roundtable included Aaron Canty, Barbara Zimbalist, Donna Trembinski, Larry Swain and Paul Patterson as well as Frans van Lière, my co-presider. The session provided a wonderful opportunity for an exchange of ideas, but it was memorable for other reasons, too. (I think I will never forget the moment in that session when, as I stood up to discuss the unicorn as a symbol for Christ in medieval culture, a bright red fox walked past the giant windows of the Lefevre Room in Valley II and disappeared into the rainy, green woods that were growing on the university campus that May!) In all, it was a valuable session, and I value those who work hard to make the Congress happen each year.
At that Congress, I also had the opportunity to meet Rob Lutton of the University of Nottingham, who joined the contributors to the volume when I had the chance to invite him. His chapter on the sacred name was the last chapter to be added to the volume. I am thankful to him for coming on board.
Many others deserve special mention here for their contributions to this book. I am particularly thankful to Frans van Lière in his role as series editor for answering questions, making suggestions, and providing overall guidance. My research assistants at the University of La Verne for this project include Brenna von den Benken, who compiled the bibliography and list of indexing terms, and Carmen Vargas, who completed the index once the proofs were available. To both of them, I am thankful for their cheerful diligence and close attention to detail. My gratitude must also be extended to the in-house editors at Brill, especially Marcella Mulder: Marcella, it is a pleasure to work with you on another book, and my thanks to you and your team are truly heart-felt. I am particularly pleased that we have been able to include both black-and-white and full-color figures in this book.
My own chapter in this volume was supported in its development by access granted to Shields Library at the University of California, Davis. I am thankful to those who ensured that access by appointing me to the position of Associate Researcher in English: my senior colleague, Professor Margaret Ferguson, and the then chair of the UC Davis Department of English, Professor Liz Miller. Roberto Delgadillo, a librarian for the faculty in the College of Arts and Humanities at Davis, has remained a valued source of intelligence, humor, and good-natured support as I have chased down information needed for this book (not to mention, other books!). Thank you, Roberto, for your help in the process: may you be ever-blessed.
At the University of La Verne, where I currently work as a professor, I am very thankful to my interim department chair, Gerard Lavatori, and the deans of the College of Arts & Sciences, Lawrence Potter and Brian Clocksin, and Provost Jonathan Reed for research funding that was provided in support of my work on this book. It enabled me to pay my research assistants and to have access to computer hardware and software accommodations (including voice-dictation software) necessitated by my tendinitis. Frankly, this support has been invaluable. I am truly grateful.
Finally, I would like to thank my close friends and family members for the support they have given to me personally during the years that I have been working on this book. At first, many of them were surprised that the unicorn was a symbol for Christ in the Middle Ages, but now, they know that is so beyond any shadow of a doubt! (They have heard quite a lot about how so from me, I admit.) To my parents Rudy and Barbara Holthuis, my brothers and sisters, and my dear friends Pastor Miguel Rodriguez, Stacey Jones, Tina Torres, Cheryl Hiatt, Michelle Smoler, and Elaine Padilla, thank you so much for your prayers, love, and friendship.
I dedicate this book to my nephew Elijah Phoenix Nehemiah Beal, who was born March 23, 2016 while this book project was slowly growing into the form it now has. Today, at nearly three years old, Elijah is a little drummer-boy – already a musician like his father and a dancer like his mother – and he is a delight to everyone who meets him. I hope someday he will enjoy the fact that this book is dedicated to him as well as the garden of ideas about Jesus that are within it like plants and trees, flowers and fruit. Elijah, I have written about the Unicorn as a symbol for Christ in this book, but the Phoenix was a symbol for Christ in the Middle Ages, too. Since that is one of your middle names, I promise to write something about how the Phoenix became a symbol for Christ. Meanwhile, Elijah, I love you!
Jane Beal
University of La Verne