The Pure Love of Madame Guyon: The Great Conflict in King Louis XIV's Court

by Nancy C. James

Overview

In seventeenth-century France, Madame Guyon wrote about the concept of "pure love." "Love pure and holy, is a deathless fire," she wrote, and is "ethereal fare." Her popular books spread quickly through Europe and the New World, drawing the attention of Louis XIV and the court at Versailles. The Inquisition attacked her writing and concepts, resulting in her decade long incarceration, including years in the Bastille. Archbishop Fénelon defended Guyon while the leading cleric, Bishop Bossuet, demanded that the Vatican condemn Fénelon and Guyon as heretics.

A contemporaneous historian wrote a history of the "Great Conflict" between Guyon, Bossuet, Fénelon, and the Vatican entitled Supplement to the Life of Madame Guyon, which is regarded as having been written in the eighteenth-century. Professor Nancy C. James's translation of this manuscript from the Bodleian Library at Oxford University is featured in this book, coupled with an analysis of the powerful theology of Guyon that influenced both the growth of the Quakers and Romanticism. This history addresses roots of our social conflicts as individual consciences struggle against destructive political power.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761837572
Publisher:	University Press of America
Publication date:	06/14/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	130
Product dimensions:	6.06(w) x 9.11(h) x 0.43(d)

About the Author

Nancy C. James is a Priest Associate at St. John's, Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., and an Adjunct Professor at Marymount University, Arlington, Virginia. She received her M.Div. from Virginia Theological Seminary and her Ph.D. from the University of Virginia.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Historical Perspective on the Great Conflict Chapter 3 Guyon's Theology of the Holy Spirit Chapter 4 Madame Guyon's Dreams and Visions Chapter 5 Bossuet and Fénelon: Opponents over Guyon's Theology Chapter 6 A Manuscript about the Life and Theology of Madame Guyon Chapter 7 Manuscript Translated: Supplement to the Life of Madame Guyon Chapter 8 Madame Guyon's Theology: Conclusions Part 9 Endnotes Part 10 Bibliography