Ella Johnson, PhD

Recent Publications and Research

• Dr. Johnson's research focuses on recovering the theological insights of medieval women mystics for constructive theology today.
• She recently published a book on the eucharistic theology and theological anthropology of Gertrude the Great of Helfta.
• This is my Body: Eucharistic Theology and Anthropology in the Writings of Gertrude the Great of Helfta. Cistercian Studies Series 280. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2020.
• "Critical Reflection Ensuing from Traumatic Events and Ideology Critique," Trauma-Informed Pedagogies in the Religious Studies Classroom. Spotlight on Teaching series. Ed. Jessica Tinklenberg. Religious Studies News (March 2021): 61-67.
• "Bodily Language in the Spiritual Exercises of Gertrud the Great of Helfta," Magistra 14, no. 1 (2008): 79-107.
• "Metaphors for Metamorphosis: Mary Daly meets Gertrud the Great of Helfta," Magistra 15, no. 1 (2009): 3-31.
• "Hindu and Christian Religious Women Recovered--Agency and Power as Resistance?" Journal of Hindu Studies 3, no. 3 (2010): 273-278.
• "Reproducing Motherhood: Images of Mary and Maternity in the Writings of Gertrud the Great of Helfta" Magistra 18, no. 1 (2012): 3-23.
• "To Taste (Sapere) Wisdom (Sapientia): Eucharistic Devotion in the Writings of Gertrude of Helfta," Viator 44, no. 2 (2013): 175-199.
• "Liturgical Opportunities for ‘Deep Crying unto Deep': The Rhetorical Function of Now/Then Dualities in Gertrud of Helfta," Medieval Mystical Theology 24, no. 1 (2015): 45-58.
• "Teaching (Re-)Humanization: Using Film in Anti-Racist Education" ARTS: The Arts in Religious and Theological Studies 26.2 (2015): 31.
• "Establishing Community in Hybrid Format Courses," Teaching Tactic in Teaching Theology and Religion 8.3 (2015): 233.
• "Eucharistic Theology and Anthropology in Gertrude of Helfta and William of Saint-Thierry: On the Sense of Taste," Magistra 27, no. 1 (2021): 79-93."‘In mei memoriam facietis': Remembering Ritual and Refiguring ‘Woman' in Gertrud the Great of Helfta's Spiritualia Exercitia." pp. 165-186. In Inventing Identities: Re-examining the Use of Memory, Imitation, and Imagination in the Texts of Medieval Religious Women. Edited by Bradley Herzog and Margaret Cotter-Lynch. Palgrave Macmillan: Hampshire, 2012.
• "The Nightingale of Christ's Redemption Song: Mechthild of Hackeborn's Musical Apostolate." pp. 181-196. In Music, Justice and Theology. Edited by Michael O'Connor et al. Lanham: Maryland: Lexington Books, 2017.
• "Mediating between Humanity and Divinity: Priestly Identity, Eucharistic Theology, and Aemulatio in the Writings of Gertrude the Great of Helfta." pp. 119-135. Gestures of Grace: Essays in Honour of Robert Sweetman. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2023.