Talk 3: Vernacular Theology and Authority: Marguerite Porete, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Hadewijch of Antwerp. Talk 4: A Voice of One’s Own: Philosophizing as Feminized Subjects (Impostor Syndrome & Authority)

Élodie Pinel, Lila Braunschweig, Marguerite El Asmar Bou Aoun (Saint Joseph University of Beirut, Lebanese American University), Katia Raya Rami, Daniel Fischer, Jil Muller (Paderborn University)

Register here: https://indico.uni-paderborn.de/event/156/

05.05.2026, 4.30-6pm (Paris time)

Elodie Pinel - Vernacular Theology and Authority: Marguerite Porete, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Hadewijch of Antwerp

This paper examines the writing of Marguerite Porete, Mechthild of Magdeburg, and Hadewijch of Antwerp as a distinct mode of speculative discourse that can be understood, following McDonnell, as vernacular theology. Rather than denoting a merely linguistic choice, “vernacular” here refers to a relocation of theological authority outside clerical, scholastic, and institutional frameworks, into forms of expression rooted in lived experience and the rhetorical resources of lyric and narrative. Each of these writers develops a conceptual reflection on the soul’s union with God that is neither derivative of scholastic thought nor reducible to affective piety. Porete articulates a radical theology of dispossession of the will: the soul in Love becomes “without why,” beyond virtue and rational effort. Hadewijch theorizes Minne as a demanding reciprocity between the soul and God, where love is both ontological ground and ethical trial. Mechthild describes the divine as a dynamic “flowing light” that both consumes and renews the soul, elaborated through intensely embodied imagery. In each case, theological insight is embedded in poetic, dialogical, and visionary forms, which are not ornamental but constitutive of meaning. These women write in vernacular languages—Old French, Middle High German, Middle Dutch—but more importantly, they write in vernacular forms: song, dialogue, allegory, visionary narrative. Such media allowed them to communicate theology as transformation, not proposition. Their texts construct communities of reception independent of academic institutions: readers, listeners, fellow laywomen, informal circles of devotion. Communication is therefore not simply transmission but negotiation of authority. By claiming the right to speak of God from lived experience, they challenge clerical monopoly over theological discourse.This paper argues that the theological originality of these mystics lies precisely in this convergence of speculative rigor and vernacular expression. Their work demonstrates that the history of philosophy cannot be restricted to scholastic production, and that forms of communication themselves shape what counts as legitimate knowledge.

About the Speaker:

Élodie Pinel is a lecturer in philosophy and a specialist in medieval French literature. Agrégée in both modern literature and philosophy, she focuses on Marguerite Porete and the intellectual legacy of female mystics. She explores the intersections of theology, literature, and philosophy, with a special interest in will, language, and freedom. She completed her PhD on Le Miroir des âmes simples at Université Paris Nanterre, where she is affiliated with the research center CSLF (Centre des Sciences des Littératures en Langue Française). She is also active in public philosophy through podcasts and feminist publishing.

Lila Braunschweig -A Voice of One’s Own: Philosophizing as Feminized Subjects (Impostor Syndrome & Authority)

This presentation offers an investigation into the complicated, doubtful, and sometimes painful relationship feminized subjects have with philosophical activity. Drawing on the analyses of French philosopher Michèle Le Doeuff regarding the place of women in philosophy, as well as accounts from women philosophers, I aim to identify some of the reasons behind what has been termed "feminine doubt" (Casselot 2018), commonly known today as impostor syndrome. I will argue that these doubts regarding one’s philosophical authority cannot solely be explained by the now well-known reasons, such as the lack of female figures in the traditional canon of continental philosophy, or the hostility of certain philosophical texts or contexts towards women, whether they are philosophers or not.By linking Le Doeuff’s arguments with those of other Francophone and Anglophone Western feminist thinkers and writers, I will demonstrate that these doubts may also stem from the unique relationship to knowledge and authority shaped by feminine socialization and its intersection with class and race. This, in turn, hinders feminized subjects from expressing and asserting their own unique voice. I will argue that philosophy, and more broadly the ability to generate new ideas in the academic field, requires an attitude of self-assertion, as well as a capacity for disruption that is sometimes at odds with the attitudes of submission promoted by certain feminine norms and societal expectations for women in Western societies. Therefore, the ability to assert oneself as a philosophizing subject not only requires “a room of one’s own” (Woolf, 1929), but also the development of a voice of one’s own. Finally, on a more personal note, I will reflect on the remedies and practices that, in a non-ideal world, have helped me find my own voice as a theorist, assert my viewpoint, and assume a certain philosophical authority. In particular, I will discuss the rich and transformative experience of creating and participating in a women-only writing group with young Francophone feminist scholars

About the Speaker:Lila Braunschweig is an assistant professor of French literature and culture and a research affiliate at the Institute for Cultural Inquiry (ICON) at Utrecht University. She holds a PhD in political science from Sciences Po (France). Before joining Utrecht, she was a British Academy Newton international postdoctoral fellow at the University of Kent, and a postdoctoral fellow in philosophy at the Centre de recherche en éthique (CRÉ) in Montreal, and the Chaire de recherche du Canada en éthique féministe at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivière. Previously, she has also been a visiting researcher and international Fox fellow at Yale University (2019-2020). Her first book (Neutriser: emancipation par le neutre) was published in French by Les Liens qui Libèrent in 2021. Her second monograph (Vers la délicatesse. Une philosophie relationnelle de la liberté) will be published by Gallimard in 2026. Her work has also appeared in La Revue française de science politique, Philosophiques, Political Theory, Recherches féministes, the International Journal for Gender, Sexuality and Law, and Genre, Sexualités, Société.