The examination of the context of medieval sermons essayed in this volume focuses on a variety of aspects: the dominant intra- and extra-literary influences, the use of literary forms and types, the adaptation of theological subject matter for proclamation from the pulpit, the influence of liturgy and audience (congregations), the interaction between word, writing and image, and not least the tensions operative in the relation between sermons in practice and their subsequent written forms. The Devotio moderna and sermons in Latin figure prominently in the overall layout. The volume also contains seven hitherto unpublished sermons, some of them in critical editions.

The studies assembled in this volume were presented at an interdisciplinary colloquium in 1998 on the subject of research into Western mysticism and where it stands at the present moment. In historical and geographical terms they cover a broad range of texts extending from the earliest beginnings to the flowering of mysticism in the late Middle Ages and the early modern age. In addition they confront fundamental issues of a theoretical and methodological nature, notably in connection with mystic language, mystic imagery and the question of corpo-reality. The edition also presents a number of hitherto unknown or unpublished texts.