Neville,

David

O.

"The

Bodies

of

the

Bride:

The

Language

of

Incarnation,

Transcen-

dence,

and

Time

in

the

Poetic

Theology

of

Mechthild

of

Magdeburg."

Mystics

Quar-

terly.

Vol

34,

Nos.

1-2

(Jan-Apr

2008):

1-34.

Hollywood,

Amy.

The

Soul

as

Virgin

Wife:

Mechthild

of

Magdeburg,

Marguerite

Porete

,

and

Meister

Eckhart.

Notre

Dame:

University

of

Notre

Dame

Press,

1995.

when

Mechthild's

mystical

theology

pairs

"the

heights

of

bliss"

with

"the

most

exquisite

pain,"

it

does

so

as

a

faithful

recipient

of

this

tradition,

in

which

love

and

pain

occupy

the

center

of

God's

relationship

to

humankind.

Ultimately,

those

who

are

scandalized

by

Mechthild's

wedding

of

erotic

and

painful

rhetoric

will

be

scandalized

by

what

has

become

the

heart

of

the

Christian

tradition,

as

well.