medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Richard, oh wow golly-gosh-gosh! Thank you for the title, it's going straight in our 'I Would Like...' book for Best Beloved to see! (Birthday coming up in June). As for the attribute of intelligence...bless you! Thanks for finding it; I knew it was around here somewhere. It would, indeed, be interesting to do another degree now, but I'm trying my patooti-est to get my ideas together for a PhD in music in worship in Britain, Pagan and Christian--that's if I can get funding!--for which I am slowly gathering starting points...very difficult, that. However, maybe Marian cult is an appropriate inclusion?! Very probably.
I can swim only a little without spluttering, both actual and figuratively, and I agree absolutely on the depth of waters! It's the kind of thing I find myself saying to others. I do agree with you also on the Queen of Heaven being regarded as a member of the Divine Family, on the other hand Quaternity (I love the rhyme!) doesn't have that mystical quality of three-ness, which is a shame. The trinity (without a capital) is a powerful and evocative notion. We have a similar idea of three-in-one in the Triple Goddess, but that particular trinity is not really parallel to the Holy Trinity and its inextricable nature of God in Three Persons. Our three-fold Goddess indicates aspects of the same idea, symbolic of the basic stages of the life cycle, in itself a type of 3-in-1, rather than what is essentially the Mystery of a split personality--for want of a better phrase. Four-ness is not so stable (actually, my favourite number is 4, don't know why), in a similar way to a square not having the integral bracing of a triangle! Mind you, four members of a family does tie in with that rather annoying statistic of 'mum, dad, & 2.4 children'--I wonder if that's even a valid stat now? The idea of a Queen of Heaven is quite a satisfying one, and I'd be interested to know how it's received in feminist theology. Theology--now there's an in-over-the-head subject!
But to return to the topic of St Joseph as husband of the Blessed Virgin (before I get a slap on the wrist for distracting), he probably had far less of a say in the whole matter than Mary! (I'm trying like Billy-oh to recall mentions in Scripture). She has the Magnificat, the child's uncle has a walking stick that turns out to be a successful striking of a hardwood cutting (*maybe*), and Simeon gets to express his spiritual relief in the temple. But Joe didn't even get a metaphorical chorus of For He's a Jolly Good Fellow. Unless the responsibility of raising the child-Saviour and ensuring he comes to adult-hood safe and sensible is thanks enough? Again, he's probably meat for yet more apocryphal jottings, and may very well feature somewhere in hearsay. Where does the poor guy stand?
Reminders gratefully received!
Best,
Sarina.
(Confused of Cottingham)
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