Charismata and The Book of Margery Kempe

Abstract

Margery Kempe is an intriguing figure in medieval England. Following a dramatic conversion experience, Kempe feels called to conform her life to that of Christ. This illiterate wife and mother of fourteen senses God’s desire for her to (pay scribes to) put her extraordinary religious encounters on paper. The Book of Margery Kempe becomes the first autobiography written in the English language. While Kempe’s Book has received scholarly interest for its record of a middle-class woman’s lived experience, it has been largely neglected from theological investigation—due, in part, to Kempe’s unseemly devotional style. Known for her copious tears and bouts of loud sobbing, Kempe did not conform to the devotio moderna of her day. The present article will introduce The Book and address the heightened emotion so particular to this author. It will, finally, point to anointed aspects of Kempe’s experience meriting a pentecostal designation.