medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Certainly the `Celtic' *vitae* appear to have no problem with the idea of
God taking revenge for the suffering of the saint, or indeed for intrusions
into the saint's sphere of authority. The Welsh lives, for instance,
parallel God's activity in this regard with native Law, which readily
sanctions punitive actions following infringements of rights.
From a wider perspective, though, I wonder, though, whether Elena's points
about divine punishment don't also raise all sorts of questions about, for
example, medieval antisemitism (as justified by reference to God's
`punishment' of the Jews for the death of Christ)?
Paul
-----Original Message-----
From: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Elena Ivanova
Sent: 24 September 2003 01:09
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] Vengeful saints, particularly martyrs
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I think this topic is a very important one and a very wide one. Isn't
revenge
(even
disguised under the form of divine punishment) supposed to be part of a/any
saint's live
anyway, or at least a martyr's live? Can we infer that when punishment for a
saint's
martyrdom comes from God it is a kind of divine "revenge" for the inflicted
injustice?
When it does come from God explicitly (according to the text) can it still
be
classified as
the saint's revenge? Or, when it proceeds from a saint's will, does it
actually come from
God or is it endorsed by the divine will? It seems to me that the point of
most
martyrological narratives is this - to present the severity of the suffering
and then the
severity of the revenge for those who have inflicted it by being enemies of
God/the saint
in question/Christianity.
I would be very interested in an insightful opinion on this as a broader
theme.
Thanks:
Elena Ivanova
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