Christ’s Body, Affective Devotion and Female Spirituality in the Old English Descent into Hell

This article reads the Old English poem traditionally known as The Descent into Hell as an example of sophisticated, creative and speculative theology in the vernacular. In order to do so, it highlights the three most striking theological aspects of the poem’s content and structure: the depiction of Christ’s bodily descent into Sheol; the inclusion of devotions typically associated with later-medieval affective piety; and the distinctively female spirituality suggested by the poet’s adaptation of the Gospel. As well as identifying parallels with Irish and Syriac theology, it explores the possibility that the poem was composed for a female monastic audience.