This outstanding work is constructed around the theme that God's ‘divine revelation was considered to be a divine act of direct intimacy, even absorption, of the human soul in the divine’ (p. 3). Raptus could and did often ravish the person's soul and enable them to experience truth in new ways. Far-ranging in scope and treatment, David Davis employs not only the printed texts which are typically the norm for theological and spiritual discourse but equally poetry and visual images.
The seven chapters of this book are structured around three movements: the discourse of experiencing God, raptus as prayer and poetry, and the challenges to the culture of divine revelation. Chapter i defines the nature and dynamics of ravishment, drawing from late medieval sources including Richard of St Victor, Richard Rolle, Walter Hilton, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, Catherine of Siena and others. While there was an abundance of early Roman Catholic contemplatives who were women across the reformational divide the language of ravishment was more common among Protestant men (p. 32). The second chapter examines the specific genre of Protestant commentaries on the book of Revelation as a source of ravishment. This is the shortest chapter which might be due to the narrow focus exclusively on this genre. Consistent with earlier Roman Catholic sources raptus produced both knowledge and love for God. Significantly, the Protestant expression moved beyond the monastic context making ravishment available to all believers and not solely the spiritual elite. Davis argues that for Protestants, raptus typically ‘quieted the mind, by taking control of the soul, allowing a person to focus entirely upon divine illumination’ (p. 53). One of the primary dynamics of this immediate experience was a stimulation of the affections of the soul. The next chapter, which is the longest, provides a rich treatment of the centrality of images of God in divine revelation. Despite the Reformed proclivity to eschew visual depictions of the Trinity. images were significantly present in the Book of Common Prayer, Bibles and other devotional sources. Davis contends that one of the major roles of images for Protestants was to offer consolation in times of affliction. One of the valuable strengths of this work is the consistent effort to compare Roman Catholic and Protestant treatments of the same theme. While Catholic images consistently focused on Christ's suffering, Protestant visualisations were sought to ‘stir up spiritual passion’ (pp. 85, 87).
Chapters iv and v comprise the second portion of this work and introduce the role of prayer and poetry respectively in relation to divine revelation. In the fourth chapter the author advances a helpful analysis of the continuity and discontinuity between Roman Catholic and Protestant practices of meditation. The differences were not as disparate as some might think especially since early modern Protestants were conversant with the pre-Reformation devotional sources. The result was that many Puritan writers spoke of the beatific vision and mystical marriage in ways that were deeply grounded in late medieval piety. The fifth chapter enlarges many of these themes through the aegis of poetry that was shaped by paraphrasing Scripture. It was also inspired by the book of Canticles and its lush images around the Divine Bridegroom. One inherent power of poetry is its ability to move the soul, yet most poets understood that human agency was not sufficient to bring about raptus without the divine initiative.
The sixth chapter traces the dynamic interaction between Word and Spirit and the tendency for sectarian groups like the Ranters and Quakers to privilege the Holy Spirit over Scripture. The tension between prophecy and revelation is helpfully developed amid the various expressions of cessationism. With the rise of enthusiasm of the radicals came a decreased acceptance of ravishment among the mainline and moderate religious groups.
The final chapter treats the philosophical challenges to divine revelation. Despite the growing Enlightenment reliance on reason, individuals like Isaac Newton held a continuity between science and revelation. One result of the elevated dependency on reason was the debate over the nature of the soul and whether or not it possessed immortality and the ability to experience divine revelation and ravishment. A brief conclusion raises the question whether divine revelation and raptus are still relevant today and concludes that the way forward is most likely through philosophers like Swinburne and Abraham, to recover a contemplative language and ‘divine experience’ and ‘immediate revelation’ (p. 194).
From this reviewer's perspective, one of the great strengths of Davis's research is its ability to introduce Protestant readers to the strong reception of a contemplative-mystical piety that might sound foreign to their ears. Additional strengths to this fine work include the previous reference to Davis's careful attention to address the continuity and discontinuity between Roman Catholic and Protestant sources. Another indication of this is how Protestants sought to find a language to capture their ‘joys and ecstatic sensations overwhelming the soul’ while the Catholic expressions often included ‘visions and full-blown conversations with God and the saints’ (p. 117). The sheer depth of the riches of print, poetry and visual images creates a fuller perspective of the various ways that a person could and did experience God's revelation that ravished the soul.
But I must also register a few minor concerns. I wish the author would have clarified what he meant by absorption (p. 3) since that language in Christian spirituality is often reserved for those who had moved away from an orthodox experience of God. Given the author's broad scope of research in both the late medieval and early modern periods and given his treatment on the role of images or the cataphatic impetus for ravishment it is unfortunate that he did not examine the corresponding apophatic dimension of raptus. The author appears to overstate the case when he asserts that John Calvin's ‘description of the unio mystica aligns quite neatly with divine raptus’ with Bernard of Clairvaux and Walter Hilton (p. 40). Much greater development would be needed to validate that claim. Despite these few quibbles this valuable study will advance the scholarship of ravishment to the next level not only within the Roman Catholic tradition but equally for Protestants as well. It deserves a strong reception that should inspire continued study in this important area of experiencing God through immediate revelation.
