Flesh Made Word

It is a rare achievement for a text to embody what the author describes in theory. In Flesh Made Word, Emily Holmes joins medieval mystics Hadewijch, Angela, and Porete in writing as a practice of incarnation. Her engagement of feminist theorists, feminist and womanist theologians, and queer scholars is thorough, creative, and transformative. Each theoretically rich turn is grounded in the social impact of theologies of incarnation for her medieval subjects as well as contemporary ethical and spiritual practices.

~Kate Ott, Assistant Professor of Christian Social Ethics, Drew Theological School

In clear and graceful prose, Holmes guides contemporary readers through the various ways that certain medieval women we've come to call 'mystics' gave textual flesh to divine love. She offers us resources for writing new incarnations of the theological for our own time and place. A rich mix of theory and practice, language and what exceeds it, the historical and the contemporary.

~Ellen T. Armour, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Chair of Feminist Theology, Vanderbilt Divinity School

Flesh Made Word brings medieval mystical writers and postmodern theorists into dialogue in order to demonstrate their relevance for a contemporary feminist theology and a theology of the incarnation. This is an engaging and elegant work of history and theology.

~M. Shawn Copeland, Professor of Systematic Theology, Boston College