Welcome

Elizabeth Dreyer is Professor in the Department of Religious Studies at Fairfield University in Fairfield, CT. Areas of interest include medieval Christian theology, spirituality and mysticism; the spiritual legacy of medieval women; theology of the Holy Spirit; theology of the cross; contemporary lay spirituality; the thought of thirteenth-century Franciscan, Bonaventure; and the Ignatian spiritual heritage. She publishes in a wide range of journals and lectures, teaches, and leads workshop and retreats in the United States and abroad.

Holy Power, Holy Presence: Rediscovering Medieval Metaphors for the Holy Spirit (Paulist Press, 2007).


This volume explores the neglected third person of the Trinity by examining the language, imagery and metaphors for the Spirit used by our ancestors in the faith. Dreyer sees the Spirit as crucial to the spiritual evolution and power of the laity in the 21st century, and taps male and female medieval religious voices to light the way. In the hands of these medieval authors, the Holy Spirit becomes kiss, waiter at table, reconciler, bond of love, God’s green thumb, fire, music, source of unity, intelligent Christian living and prophetic voice.