The Mystic Mind

The Psychology of Medieval Mystics and Ascetics

Jerome Kroll author Bernard Bachrach author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:12th Apr '05

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

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The Mystic Mind cover

A fascinating collaboration between a medieval historian and a professor of psychiatry, this enthralling book applies modern biological and psychological research findings to the lives of medieval mystics and ascetics.

Drawing upon a database of over 1,400 medieval holy persons and in-depth studies of individual saints, this illuminating study examines the relationship between medieval mystical experiences, the religious practices of mortification; laceration of the flesh, sleep deprivation and extreme starvation, and how these actions produced altered states of consciousness and brain function in the heroic ascetics.

Examining and disputing much contemporary writing about the political and gender motivations in the medieval quest for a closeness with God, this is essential reading for anyone with an interest in medieval religion or the effects of self-injurious behaviour on the mind.

'A concise and effective re-assertion of the central premise that self-injurious behaviour helps bring about altered states of consciousness' - Mary Swan, Bulletin of International Medieval Research

'[This book] does succeed in giving the reader new questions both about medieval mystics and holy people and about the methodologies used to examine them.' - Mary Swan, Bulletin of International Medieval Research


'A concise and effective re-assertion of the central premise that self-injurious behaviour helps bring about altered states of consciousness...[This book] does succeed in giving the reader new questions both about medieval mystics and holy people and about the methodologies used to examine them.' – Bulletin of International Medieval Research

ISBN: 9780415340502

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 690g

288 pages