Early Modern Female Mysticism: At the Crossroads of Religion, Medicine, Economics, and the Press

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to enable scholars to share new insights about women and mysticism in different periods of history and in neurology, in order to demonstrate the interrelations of mysticism, gender, and fame. This interdisciplinary approach blends historiographical with neuroscientific perspectives leading to both historical and scientific insights.

Mysticism as a way of knowing God has historically (and in the present) impacted individuals differently according to their gender and social status, and in relation to their mental health. The study of mysticism in different world religions would therefore benefit from a multidisciplinary and chronologically wide-ranging approach. This has not been attempted in depth previously, although both the medieval and the early modern periods witnessed mystical movements in Muslim as well as in Christian milieus. Mystics’ insistence on their own personal, direct encounters with God left clergymen’s roles out of their spiritual life, thereby driving a wedge between established churches and mystics. In Islam, women mystics were felt to pose a particularly important threat to the mullahs by virtue of their gender. In Christian Europe, the mystic’s “power” and direct contact with God often led to suspicions of satanic interactions, with many mystics facing witchcraft enquiries or trials. Moreover, reporting visions or the hearing of Christian entities could also lead to restraining orders on mental health grounds. To put it bluntly, mystics were often considered either saints or witches—or, at best, mentally ill. In any case, their fame or infamy tainted their chances of having their lives appreciated in their entirety; mysticism was potentially bad for one’s reputation, and, for women, to be both a mystic and a woman seems to have had an additional impact, even in the counterintuitive case of saints.

Given this background, this Special Issue will include historical case studies from the medieval and early modern periods, followed by neurological case studies of people whose brains were analysed while they were having visions in order to offer a wider understanding of mysticism in the past and present.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may therefore include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Medieval Catholic, Jewish, and/or Muslim women and mysticism;
• Early modern Christian (Catholic/Protestant denominations), Jewish, and/or Muslim women and mysticism;
• Neurological/scientific studies of mysticism/religious experience more broadly.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 200–300 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editors. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editors for the purposes of ensuring their proper fit within the scope of the Special Issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

Deadline for abstract submission: 31 May 2025

Deadline for full manuscript submission: 17 November 2025

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Vittoria Feola
Dr. Erin Bell
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• mysticism
• women
• early modern
• medieval
• neurology
• saint
• Islam
• Catholicism
• Quakerism