Presentation

Abstract

This introduction to a collective essay collection on life stories, healing and religion revises connections between spiritual experience and perceptions of the body in the lives of early modern women, particularly nuns and women healers in Spain and America. By analysing sources such as court records, mystical writings, letters and legal statements, the journal essays that follow explore how individual identities are expressed through social networks, but also against externally imposed destinities.

Keywords

• cuerpo
• salud
• enfermedad
• curación
• misticismo
• experiencia religiosa
• mujeres
• identidad personal
• religiosas
• curanderas