during this compelling examine of 2 seventeenth-century woman mystics, Bo Karen Lee examines the writings of Anna Maria van Schurman and Madame Jeanne Guyon, who, regardless of diverse non secular formations, got here to comparable conclusions in regards to the adventure of God in contemplative prayer. Van Schurman used to be born right into a Dutch Calvinist family members and have become an exceptional scriptural commentator earlier than present process a dramatic non secular conversion and becoming a member of the Labadist group, a Pietistic move. Guyon was once a French layperson whose inspiration will be pointed out with Quietism—a religious course that used to be seemed upon with suspicion either via the French Catholic Church and through Rome. Lee analyzes and compares the topics of self-denial and self-annihilation within the writings of those mystics. In van Schurman's case, the point of interest is at the contrast among scholastic wisdom of God and the intima notitia Dei obtainable purely by means of radical self-denial. In Guyon's case, it's at the union with God that's available purely via a painful self-annihilation. For either authors, Lee demonstrates that the need for delight in God performs an enormous position because the engine of the soul's growth clear of self-centeredness. The appendices provide dealing with Latin and English translations of 2 letters by means of van Schurman and a variety from her Eukleria.