Miracle Healing, Miracle Vision, and Miracle Narrative in the Pre-Modern World

Virtually no religion can exist without some kind of miracles. Those transform the material dimension and offer a transcendental perspective which justifies and legitimizes the institution of religion in the first place. This phenomenon finds its most vivid expression in medieval mystical visions and religious artwork, including musical compositions and performance. In fact, the vast majority of literary texts from that time period, as well as the relevant visual documents, were predicated in one way or the other on miracles. While this topic has already been discussed at length by religious scholars, here I will turn to medieval mysticism as one of the most startling phenomena where a miraculous experience of a personal encounter with a Godhead finds its startling expression. The works by Hildegard of Bingen and Mechthild of Magdeburg, among others, will serve well to illustrate the impact of miracles on the creation of literature and art. But we find numerous references to miracles also within a secular context and can thus identify one of the most central forces behind creativity at large, at least in the Middle Ages, if not also today.