A Study Of Magery Kempe’s Religious Life

This dissertation based on “The Book of Magery Kempe” which is written by apriest according to Kempe’s dictation. By formulating her tortuous and uniquereligious life, I tried to explor why Kempe gave up her luxury secular life and turnedto religion, and what was the contemporary women’s pursuits through her experience.Firstly, the paper discussed the economic, social and religion conditions of the agesof Magery Kempe, and her secular life before turning to God. Secondly, I expoundedthe frustration and failure Magery Kempe encountered in her secular life. As thesefailure made her upset, she began to turn to God for comfort. But she had to stop thepursuing of God because of the obstruction from her husband, then thanks to God’sguide and help, she persuaded him to allow her to live a chasty life and then she couldstart a devout religious life. At last, I probed into her pilgriming and unique religiousexperience: she communicated with God and all the saints directly when she was inmeditation. In short, she got more freedom and space outside the house through herpersistance in following God, meditation and pilgriming, thus leading more femalefind spiritual sustanence outside the house. Her autobiography is a precedent ofwomen’s self-expression in middle ages and make it possible for women to speak upfor themselves.