Johannes Depnering

Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow
Address:  Oriel College, Oriel Square, Oxford OX1 4EW
Email:  johannes.depnering@oriel.ox.ac.uk


 

Research

My current project on fourteenth-century mystical writing explores tactile experiences and physical pain in the accounts of the lives of three German women: Elsbeth von Oye, Margareta Ebner and Dorothea von Montau. In my research, I combine a physiological and psychological approach with codicological and literary analysis. Drawing on research that has been conducted on pain at the interface of biology and culture, neuropsychology and religion, I aim to gain a deeper insight into the concept of touch and the potential of physical pain in these mystical texts. Furthermore, I am working on a reassessment of Zurich, Central Library, Ms. Rh. 159 – in previous scholarship considered to be Elsbeth’s autograph – which will provide a better understanding of the process of writing about, and dealing with, mystical and traumatic experiences.

Teaching

German language; Medieval German culture, language and literature.

Activities

Upcoming presentations:

‘Visualizing Christ’s wounds: The thirteenth-century stigmatics Christina of Stommeln and Lukardis of Oberweimar’, 10th Biennial Conference, Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Brisbane, 14-18 July.