Historian & Scholar of Religion, Ph.D. Duke University
I study the history of Christian spirituality, with a focus on questions of gender, agency, and religious authority, and a specialization in the mystical and devotional texts of medieval women.
My dissertation investigates vernacular mysticism among the Sisters of the Common Life, women who were part of the devotio moderna (Modern Devotion), a reform movement focused on renewal of Christian community and personal piety (late 14th–16th centuries). My research explores connections between the spirituality of the Sisters of the Common Life and the theology of medieval mystics from Brabant and the Rhineland (such as Ruusbroec and Suso, respectively) through close examination of the Zusterboeken (Sisterbooks), the collections of stories and teachings written about, for, and by the Sisters of the Common Life themselves.
I am also interested in digital humanities, such as digital text editing and computational text analysis, and in conversations around theorizing race, gender, and sexuality in the premodern and early modern eras and the intersections of these concerns with Christian theology.
For more information about me & my research, check out my LinkedIn or Github.