Longing and Letting Go

Comparative theology investigates and negotiates the borders between religious traditions; at best, it also unsettles theological assumptions and results in greater interreligious empathy and understanding for an interconnected, pluralistic world. Toward these aims, this work explores and compares the energies of desire and non-attachment in the writings of two women mystics who lived in very different times and places: Hadewijch, a thirteenth-century Christian Beguine, and Mirabai, a sixteenth-century Hindu bhakti saint.