Mr. Martin
Many thanks for setting me straight with your very
thought provoking reply to my brief posting. I shall
endeavour to seek out the sensory elements in western
medieval Christianity. Thanks also for the reminder on the
more 'sensory' nature of medieval life in general. We do
occupy a very sanitised position, in comparison, from which
privileged position it is all to easy to forget how much
more out forebears were rooted to physical processes.
Graham WM.
On Sat, 29 Jan 2000 11:25:16 -0600 Dennis Martin
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Why should one assume that Western Christianity was non-sensory?
> Patristic and medieval Christianity are sacramental and incarnational.
> Early on they struggled over Gnosticism and Manichaeanism, both of
> which were rejected. Throughout the Middle Ages one finds a very
> sensory and sensual Christianity. The modern world tends back toward
> Gnosticism in many ways, primarily because technology permits us to
> bypass a lot of processes that medieval people could not (family
> handling/washing/dressing of bodies, digging out latrines instead of
> flushing everything down a sanitary sewer, breastfeeding instead of
> formula--elites could employ wetnurses, but someone somewhere had to
> nurse every child, real darkness at night, being constricted by the
> cycle of day and night etc.) We do a lot of "mind-over-matter" stuff
> today; medieval Westerners could not. I see not appreciable
> difference between Byzantine and Western Christianity on the question
> of sensory/incarnational practices.
>
> Dennis Martin
>
> >>> Graham Williamson-Mallaghan
> <[log in to unmask]> 01/28 3:45 AM >>>
> >Wounds of Christ and John Wesley
>
> What is the provenance of
> this idea of Christ's wounds as a refuge from temptation
> and sinfulness? It seems to me a very sensory and organic
> image, too much so for Western Christianity.
>
> ----------------------
> Graham Williamson-Mallaghan
> School of Classics and Theology
> Queens Building
> Queens Drive
> University of Exeter
> EX4 4QG
>
> 01392-676239
>
> [log in to unmask]
> [log in to unmask]
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Subscribe to my internet/e-mail discussion forum.
> Exchange ideas and make international academic contacts:
> http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/later-roman-empire/
>
>
>
----------------------
Graham Williamson-Mallaghan
School of Classics and Theology
Queens Building
Queens Drive
University of Exeter
EX4 4QG
01392-676239
[log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]
Subscribe to my internet/e-mail discussion forum.
Exchange ideas and make international academic contacts:
http://www.mailbase.ac.uk/lists/later-roman-empire/
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|