medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
If I may, I would just add to Rob Howe's note that, as Dante was writing
just as the papacy was decamping to Avignon under Clement V, the thesis of a
pre-C12 Avignon origin for the three keys looks difficult to sustain. The
three-keys imagery was evidently not in currency when the popes were
establishing themselves there from 1305.
Best wishes
Peter McDonald
-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Howe <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Wednesday, 29 January 2003 9:29
Subject: Re: [M-R] Peter's (3) keys
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
>Fortuitously, I am currently re-reading the Divine Comedy, and have just
>passed the bit about Peter's keys in Purgatorio. The keys here are two in
>number. One is made of gold and the other of silver. The metaphor is the
>Church's capacity for forgiveness of sins:
>
>The gold key represents the divine authority of the Church to do the
>forgiving (and is hence more valuable).
>
>The silver key represents the intelligence and judgement needed by the
>Church to ascertain whether repentance is genuine and whether or not to
>actually effect forgiveness. This key is said to be less valuable, but more
>difficult to turn (or something along those lines - I don't have my copy to
>hand right now!)
>
>I don't know what three keys might mean, unless you add a black one to the
>two mentioned by Dante.
>
>Best wishes.
>
>Rob Howe.
>http://www.rob-rah.com
>
>
>>From: Marjorie Greene <[log in to unmask]>
>>Reply-To: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>> <[log in to unmask]>
>>To: [log in to unmask]
>>Subject: [M-R] Peter's (3) keys
>>Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 18:43:02 -0800
>>
>>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>>
>>Dear List,
>>
>>Again Isabel Moreira's book has provoked a question.
>>She refers to "Peter's three keys." I realize that the
>>Gospel refers to the "keys" (plural) but never ran
>>across a specific number before this. The handing over
>>of the keys is depicted in the Sistine Chapel
>>http://www.christusrex.org/www1/sistine/K.jpg
>>and the keys are two in number, one of gold, the
>>other, black, representing, I guess, Heaven and Hell.
>>All other depictions of Peter I can conjure up show
>>him with one, despite the Gospel statement. Whence the
>>number three?
>>Thanks,
>>MG
>>
>>__________________________________________________
>>Do you Yahoo!?
>>Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now.
>>http://mailplus.yahoo.com
>>
>>**********************************************************************
>>To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
>>to: [log in to unmask]
>>To send a message to the list, address it to:
>>[log in to unmask]
>>To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
>>to: [log in to unmask]
>>In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
>>[log in to unmask]
>>For further information, visit our web site:
>>http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
>
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>Use MSN Messenger to send music and pics to your friends
>http://messenger.msn.co.uk
>
>**********************************************************************
>To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
>to: [log in to unmask]
>To send a message to the list, address it to:
>[log in to unmask]
>To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
>to: [log in to unmask]
>In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
>[log in to unmask]
>For further information, visit our web site:
>http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|