Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Flame into Being: Spirits, Soul, and the Physiology of Early Modern Devotion

Sugg, R.

Flame into Being: Spirits, Soul, and the Physiology of Early Modern Devotion Thumbnail


Authors

R. Sugg



Abstract

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, human physiology was mediated by the vital spirits. These fine vapors of heated blood and air not only linked body and soul, but were central to processes and ideas of generation, sight, mind-body unity, muscle and nerve action, and emotion. An ascending hierarchy of spirits rose from the liver, to the heart, up into the brain. This essay examines the distinctive role that bodily spirits played in Protestant religious experience, focusing especially on moments of particular interior drama. At a time when some Christians believed that the Spirit of God could fuse with these vital spirits in one's heart, the implications for “moments of grace” in Protestant piety are highly intriguing. The same can be said, mutatis mutandis, for moments when a “demonic” thought is suspected to have invaded the heart or brain.

Citation

Sugg, R. (2016). Flame into Being: Spirits, Soul, and the Physiology of Early Modern Devotion. Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, 46(1), 141-165. https://doi.org/10.1215/10829636-3343171

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 24, 2015
Online Publication Date Jan 1, 2016
Publication Date Jan 1, 2016
Deposit Date Feb 24, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies
Print ISSN 1082-9636
Electronic ISSN 1527-8263
Publisher Duke University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 46
Issue 1
Pages 141-165
DOI https://doi.org/10.1215/10829636-3343171

Files




You might also like



Downloadable Citations