The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1999 page)

Rheno-Flemish spirituality
.

A style of Christian mystical devotion of the 13th cent., which developed in Belgium and the Rhineland. The Rhineland mystics emphasized the seeking and finding of God within, rather than in outward devotions. They were rooted in the practice and experience of the Beguines (and their male counterparts, the Beghards), who were lay religious groups seeking the simplicity of the early Church in communal association with each other (they were condemned, especially for their use of the vernacular Bible and private interpretation of scripture, but their descendants survive to the present). One major figure was Mechtild of Magdeburg (1210–
c.
1290), who lived most of her life as a Beguine, but retired to a convent when her writings were attacked; her main work,
Das fliessende Licht der Gottheit
(The Flowing Light of the Godhead), is a compendium of her own experiences and of medieval mysticism.
Gertrude of Helfta (1256–1301/2), often called ‘the Great’, experienced, at the age of 25, a bond of love with Jesus, a kind of ‘nuptial mysticism’ (
Brautmystik
), and from that time entered a life of contemplation; she wrote the much-admired
Legatus Divinae Pietatis
(The Herald of Divine Love, parts of which were written later from her notes), and was one of the first to develop devotion to the
Sacred Heart
. Hadewijch of Antwerp (early 13th cent.), whose
Visions
develop the same theme of a union with God of ecstatic love (
minnemystiek
), Jan van
Ruysbroeck
, and
Hildegard
of Bingen are often associated with this group; and the
devotio moderna
of Gerard
Groote
is usually regarded as a direct successor.

 
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see
RHENO-FLEMISH SPIRITUALITY
.

 
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Rhys Davids, C. A. F.
(née Foley
,

1857–1942)
. An important editor, translator, and commentator on P
li Buddhist texts. After her marriage to T. W.
Rhys Davids
in 1894, she worked as Honorary Secretary to the P
li Text Society until her husband's death in 1922, when she became President.
Her major writings include translations of the
Sa
yutta Nik
ya
(2 vols.),
Dhammasa
ga
i
,
Ther
g
th
, and an important early study of the Buddhist conception of mind,
Buddhist Psychology
(1914).