A journey to the high places : Hannah Hurnard's spirituality and the song of songs

Abstract

Since his existence the human being has explored various ways in his quest for God. Part of this search is related to humanity's yearning for true harmony and joy in the world. Christian spirituality, as a unique spirituality one encounters today, implies various ways how one can respond to this longing. One of these ways is through allegorical narratives. Specifically, this study analyses the spirituality of Hannah Burnard (1905 - 1990) by inteliextually perusing her most famous allegorical narrative "Hinds' Feet on High Places". This study is divided into four chapters. In chapter one the allegorical narrative is subjectively considered in all its aspects and the central themes are expressed without any reference to other secondary connections. Chapter two analyses the allegorical narrative by relating this narrative with other material that Hannah Burnard published. These other narratives provide the tools which Hannah employed in the composition of this allegorical narrative. Thus, chapter two presents an intertextual analysis between her other publications and "Hinds' Feet on High Places". Likewise, chapter three presents another intertexual analysis between the many Biblical abstracts and their relation to the narrative, in the hope of showing her biblical interpretations. Several spiritual themes that emerged from the preceding chapters are discussed in chapter four presenting a consistent spirituality. In presenting the themes one notes that the strong points and weaknesses of Hannah's spirituality are related to other Christian spiritual traditions. In order to conduct a comprehensive study the introductory section of this study deals with the significance of allegory and spirituality.