Imagining Jesus Christ in Middle English Literature 1275-1475

<p>This book interprets Jesus Christ as a complicated disunified literary character in Middle English literature where he appears variously as king traitor victorious conqueror sacrificial lamb heroic knight lover and spouse--often as several contradictory figures in a single work. These tropes derive from Scripture doctrines about Christ's two natures and theories of redemption. This book examines the full range of representations in <em>Southern Passion Northern Passion Pepysian Gospel Harmony Stanzaic Life of Christ Cursor Mundi</em> Nicholas Love���s <em>Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ</em> Sir John Mandeville���s <em>Book </em>the York Play and Julian of Norwich's <em>Revelation of Love</em>. Although Christ's two natures are well represented in existing scholarship many traditions have been overlooked including commonplace treatments of Christ as both a traitor and king conqueror and sacrificial lamb hero and lover. As writers call upon audiences to feel compassion for Jesus's suffering they almost universally express antipathy toward his Jewish torturers complicating our ideas about affective piety. In these works the Virgin Mary is less exemplary for her compassion than for her understanding of doctrine. In short this book offers new perspectives on vernacular Christology between about 1275 and 1475.</p><p><strong>Theresa Tinkle</strong> is a Professor within the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan USA as well as Director of the Gayle Morris Sweetland Center for Writing. Previous publications include <em>Medieval Venuses and Cupids: Sexuality and Hermeneutics in English Poetry</em> (1996) and <em>Gender and Power in Medieval Exegesis</em> (Palgrave 2010). Theresa���s academic training and publications include the study of medieval English and Latin literature the medieval reception of the Bible gender and sexuality studies paleography and manuscript studies composition and pedagogy and disability studies. </p>