Climate change and ecological sustainability crisis are enormous issues, which should be understood and dealt not only on technical and political levels, but also in today´s pedagogy and education. The question is, how are we able to educate children to act eco-friendly and with sustainable practices in their lives also in the future?

In this study I focus on St. Bridget, 14th century Swedish female mystic, who for many decades received godly revelations. These revelations are called Den Heliga Uppenbarelser, and they are the source material of my study. From my two-fold research question, I studied the revelations from the viewpoints of both contemplative pedagogy and today´s sustainability crisis. Contemplation, regarded now as deep meditation and devotion (to something greater than oneself) is seen as the combining concept between medieval ideas and today´s needs in education. My main research method was hermeneutic, Gadamerian based close reading together with historical contextualization.

The connection between body and soul, and the effort to combine these two parts of human being holistically, is clearly seen in St. Bridget´s text. Both bodily and spiritual conventions have their place in human´s life, and in one´s religious life as well. Bridget emphasizes the importance of emotions and senses also in religious contexts. For Bridget, the body is not filled with negative aspects, but an object which should be cared for and physically given what it needs (that is, work, rest and adequately nourishment).

In today´s educational context, spiced with sustainability crisis and climate change, the most important outcome of my study is that a new kind of belonging to the world, and a new, transmodern view on civilization and wealth is needed. St. Bridget offers tools for a modern reader to face these problems, benefiting from the medieval conventions of contemplative thinking, but still gazing upon the future with a holistic vision of the human being in mind.

Key words: contemplative pedagogy, contemplation, St. Bridget, Middle Ages, sustainability crisis, education, eco-social education, bodily conceptions