Description: Rachel J. D. Smith combines historical, literary, and theological approaches to offer a new interpretation of Thomas of Cantimpré's hagiographies, showing how they employ vivid narrative portrayals of typically female bodies to perform theological work in a rhetorically specific way.
Brief description: Rachel J. Smith (PhD, Religion, Harvard) is Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University. She has published articles in journals such as Theology and Sexuality, Harvard Theological Review, and Marginalia. This is her first book.
Review Quotes: The results of Smith's approach are unfailingly compelling, advancing our knowledge of what Thomas of Cantimpré was hagiographically and theologically up to in his vitae while at the same time illuminating the spiritual and intellectual world that produced him. In the process we are asked to consider the role of body and gender, of belief and unbelief, of the medieval form of criticism that travelled under the banner of the via negativa as they operate in the thirteenth century and by extension our own.--Robert Sweetman, H. Evan Runner Chair in the History of Philosophy, Institute for Christian Studies