This volume presents new perspective on the semantic background of the term 'serenity' in the religious literature of the Middle Ages and into the 17th century.In Medieval Studies, the term 'serenity' is associated particularly with Johannes Eckhart. Later, however, it came to be considered the central concept of religious and mystic literature of the late Middle Ages. Using the modern methods of historical semantics, this anthology looks at the various perspectives of the semantics, the establishment and the enactment of 'serenity.' The contributions offer not only conceptual analyses, they also discuss important modern approaches to historical semantics regarding word history, text exegesis and discourse analysis.

Dr. Burkhard Hasebrink ist Professor für Ältere deutsche Literatur und Sprache an der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg i. Br.