This thesis provides a new analysis of late medieval personal devotion to angels in England, built upon freshly compiled primary evidence. This evidence consists of devotional material collected from a large sample of fifteenth-century Latin manuscript Books of Hours either produced in England or produced elsewhere for the English market. The use of a properly constructed sample of manuscripts in this research has provided a large and varied body of material for analysis. It has also revealed trends and patterns stemming from a clear context, relevant to both the material and to the Books of Hours containing it, across a significant number of manuscripts. Whilst angels feature in all Books of Hours, often in support of devotion to other figures, the emphasis of this thesis has been analysis of the material in which the angels themselves are the main focus of devotion. These 'angelic' texts and illuminations are important because they represent the choices and preferences of individuals, both lay and religious, concerning the contents of their Books of Hours. The main body of the thesis is an analysis of this textual and visual evidence and of its manuscript settings, which leads into fresh devotional perspectives and findings. These relate to both those who composed or produced the materials and those who used them in their Books of Hours. Analysis also leads to the suggestion of new hypotheses concerning the surprising range of sources which was drawn upon in creating specialised and erudite texts.

This dissertation offers a new look at the Pore Caitif, a late-fourteenth century treatise of doctrine and devotion. Taking into account recent scholarship in the field of manuscript studies, particularly `materialist philology' which focusses on the entire codex rather than a text in isolation, the dissertation seeks to elucidate some of the textual and cultural contexts of the Pore Caitif. It is argued that taking the entire corpus of miscellaneous codices containing the Pore Caitif as the point of departure for investigation can help to arrive at an understanding of the nature and the use of this variable treatise. To this end, a large number of manuscripts are investigated in detail. Fresh, and in many cases for the first time, codicological descriptions are established for the majority of manuscripts containing the Pore Caitif and a number of other related texts. The data uncovered by this exercise are then analysed with a view to elucidating a number of historical ambiguities relating to the treatise, particularly dating and doctrinal affiliations. An appendix provides a parallel text of orthodox and heterodox versions of the Ten Commandments Commentary from the Pore Caitif.

This thesis examines the function and transmission of late medieval visionary writings with devotional instructions between enclosed convents in England, the Low Countries and German-speaking areas. It argues that religious women, who could not normally assert authority as religious teachers and writers, used devotional instructions, to which they or others had attributed divine origins, to authoritatively teach their communities to develop more disciplined religious lives and to identify more intimately with Christ. The thesis examines these devotional instructions as carefully designed tools that enabled religious women to actively participate in promoting the ideals of the contemporary monastic reform movements of the Devotio Moderna and Observant reform. The thesis studies the devotional works of the late medieval religious women who wrote accounts about personal visions: Magdalena Beutler, a Poor Clare in Freiburg im Breisgau, an anonymous female Franciscan tertiary, Jacomijne Costers, a canoness regular in Antwerp, and Maria van Hout, a beguine in Oisterwijk. It examines, moreover, how women religious scribes disseminated and adapted these and other revelatory devotional instructions for different devotional contexts. By examining the transmission histories of these works, the thesis not only identifies several new important copies, which help explain how some works came to circulate across different linguistic regions, but also the textual networks in which these works circulated. An important finding of my thesis is that women religious scribes actively adapted divinely authorised devotional instructions for different devotional contexts. They actively customised these works for their own convents, but also used them for reaching out to extra-mural lay communities. These writings, then, enabled them not only to reform their own devotional cultures, but to effectively influence late medieval devotional culture as a whole.

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This thesis fills a gap in knowledge by systematically identifying ways in which Julian of Norwich’s 'Revelations of Love' and William Langland’s 'Piers Plowman' were influenced by the biblical Apocalypse and exegetical writings. It considers the implications of areas of confluence such as spiritual warfare and other salient thematic elements of the Apocalypse which both writers reapply and emphasise. It contends that the exegetical approach to the Apocalypse is more extensive in Julian’s 'Revelations' and more sophisticated in 'Piers Plowman' than previously thought, whether through primary or secondary textual influences. The thesis explores concepts of authority and medieval interpretations of the Apocalypse within the orthodoxy versus heterodoxy debate. It considers Julian’s explications of her vision of the soul as city of Christ and all believers – the fulcrum of her eschatologically-focussed Aristotelian and Augustinian influenced pneumatology. It explores the liberal soteriology implicit in her Parable of the Lord and the Servant in its Johannine and Scotistic Christological emphasis, the Bernadine influenced concept of the Motherhood of God, the absent vision of hell, and the eschatological ‘grete dede’, vis-à-vis a possible critique of the prevalent hermeneutic. It contextualises Julian’s writing by considering contemporaneous Apocalypse-influenced women writers such as Marguerite Porete and Margery Kempe. The thesis argues that Langland transposes Apocalypse 1-17 onto fourteenth-century England as a loose template for his own apocalypse. It considers his poetics with reference to Bakhtinian theoretical concepts which Langland employs within nuanced re-applications of the Apocalypse. It explores the agrarian metaphor and apocalyptic imagery in the poem’s opening, and the innovative employment of the allegorical dream vision genre. In discussing Langland’s apocalyptic dreams’ openings and personifications it highlights his re-imaginings of sections of the Apocalypse, arguing that the didactic oraculum of his personification, Lady Holy Church, bears similarities with Apocalypse 2-3. It reconsiders Lady Meed as Whore of Babylon and Langland’s evocation of the Antichristus Mysticus comparable to the perceived threat to the nascent Christian community in the Apocalypse.

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The primary objective of this thesis is to reconsider the significance of the canonical portrayal of Moses the intercessor in the aftermath of "documentary" pentateuchal criticism. Not disregarding the diachronic dimension of the text, at the heart of this study is a close theological reading of Exodus 32-34 and Numbers 13-14 in their final form with focus on the nature and theological function of Moses' prayers. The intercessions evoke important theological questions, especially with regard to divine mutability, reputation, purpose, and covenant. It will become evident that Moses’ prayers embody a hermeneutical key to biblical theology. The choice of the two key narratives is endorsed by their strong inner-biblical associations. Two are of particular importance: I) Moses' intercession in Numbers 14:11-19 clearly wants to be understood in relation to Exodus 34:6-7, YHWH's fullest revelation of His name, which in itself is the result of Moses' engaging prayer activity (Ex. 32-33). By appealing to YHWH's name (Nu. 14:18), Moses sets an important biblical paradigm of authentic prayer. II) We shall see that YHWH's disclosure of His name remains a somewhat abstract reality in the context of the golden calf account. I shall advance the thesis, however, that YHWH's fullest revelation of His name (Ex. 34:6-7) is enacted in Numbers 14 in a specific and concrete situation and stands thus as a kind of commentary on Exodus 34:6-7.Another central aspect of this study is to bring Moses' intercessory activity into canonical connection with his prophetic qualities. It has long been noticed that Moses is presented as Israel's archetypal prophet. His prophetic role, however, has rarely been brought into constructive relation with his role as intercessor. Our study of Moses' intercessory prayers is preceded by some hermeneutical reflections and a survey of recent literature on Old Testament intercessory prayers.

This thesis re-examines selected works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the light of a specific engagement with Victorian spiritualism, which is characterised by an interest in the esoteric writings of the eighteenth-century mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. It locates Rossetti’s use of Swedenborgian imagery and ideas in his written and artistic work, contextualising it within his engagement with spiritualism, and with reference to his interest in a visionary tradition of literature. The thesis therefore furthers what has begun in embryo in both Rossetti and Victorian scholarship; drawing together two hitherto separate areas of research, to formulate new and detailed inter-disciplinary readings of Rossetti’s poetry, fine art and design. The critical approach is twofold, combining historical scholarship with textual analysis. A cultural context is re-established which uncovers a network of Swedenborgian and spiritualist circles, and through original research, Rossetti’s connections to these are revealed. The specific approach of these groups, which this thesis calls ‘Swedenborgian-spiritualism’ (thereby naming a new term), is characterised by an intellectual, literary interest in Swedenborg, coupled with a practical engagement with spiritualism, and a fascination with the mesmeric trance state. In addressing three major works, ‘The Blessed Damozel’ (1850), Beata Beatrix (c.1863-71) and The House of Life (1881), the thesis traces Rossetti’s engagement with Swedenborgian-spiritualism through three distinct phases in his career, the result of which facilitates a greater understanding of the development of his poetics and artistry. In addition, the thesis returns to earlier critical sources, which show a response to Rossetti in this light, and questions long rooted assumptions which persist in Rossetti scholarship. Thus, it adds to the body of critical literature on Rossetti by reestablishing context and readings which are needed in order to fully understand his work, and reinstating a critical engagement with Rossetti that has become sidelined, or forgotten.

Prayer ministry evolved from John Wimber’s five-step model for healing prayer. The one-to-one encounter practised in ministry time was the third part of the threefold structure in a Wimber Vineyard event. Wimber’s personal history included conversion in his late twenties, church leadership, and knowledge of church growth. He drew on colleagues to build a theology of worldviews, the kingdom of God, phenomena and experiences, and the supernatural. This thesis argues that using his undoubted charisma he profoundly influenced Wimber Vineyard communities, who take every opportunity to engage in prayer ministry. Wimber, often using his characteristic rhetoric taught that observable signs, phenomena and manifestations occurring during prayer ministry could be understood by the participants to signify the presence, activity and power of God. Combining the research methods of participant observer and discourse analysis, I argue that Wimber’s charismatic leadership style obscured the strong possibility that the power of God and the Holy Spirit, can become indistinguishable from human power. The analysis reveals that Wimber could be uncertain about conveying this model to all, and that he could seem to own personally the ability to heal. Drawing on insights from professional counselling, this research proposes that a greater awareness of the significant difference between prayer ministry (Gods power) and power praying (human power) should be recognised and acknowledged by current Vineyard leaders and an appropriate response made.

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