medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
> Joining ranks with Marjorie, I, for a second, take it as a pretty
> trite strategy of diffamation, beginning with Celsus in the 2nd c,
> namely that Christian theology is nothing else but perverted Greek
> theology.
George (and Marjorie),
I take your point, but I would suggest that theological concepts are not necessarily
involved in any putative link between Marian cults and those of pre-Christian
goddesses. When one considers orthodox Marian theology (medieval or modern),
there is nothing there that explains medieval processions of Marian images or relics
to bring rain to nourish crops, that explains the myriad annual Marian rituals,
processions or local pilgrimages associated with the harvest or the migration of
sheep or cattle from the mountains to the plains, that explains distraught couples
bringing their still-born babies to Marian shrines in the hopes she will resurrect them
momentarily so that they can be baptised and avoid limbo, that explains women
seeking aid in reproducing at Marian shrines. These are all social needs which
religion has accommodated long before Christianity arrived on the scene. As
medievalists, we are formed by the documents left by the church, which represents
a hegemonic minority of the medieval population. If one considers the majority, the
rural, illiterate peasantry, which has left no documents, what did they know or care
about theological niceties? They were just trying to survive, as best they could. No
theologian (medieval or modern), I would presume, would resent these poor people
turning to the Virgin Mary for such reasons, as essentially "non-Christian" -- and
equally "non-pagan" -- as they might be. I am becoming more and more convinced
that "local religion" in the Middle Ages, as distinct as it might be from the religion of
the "theologians" (but not necessarily at odds with it), must be taken far more
seriously than is usually the case. These are concerns that we do not consider, not
because of any particularly religious reason, but because we now also have science
and medicine to turn to, which essentially limits our idea of "religion" to a "religious"
sphere, rather than a global belief that encompassed -- as I believe it did for the
majority of medieval people -- both the spiritual and the material aspects of their
existence.
Cheers,
Jim Bugslag
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