In a message dated 97-07-10 20:23:28 EDT, John Arnold writes:
> I have just been working on Cathar preaching, and related topics. As has
> been previously known (nb I'm claiming no credit here!), some of the
> Cathar perfecti had a fairly strong knowledge of *parts* of the Bible, in
> particular the Gospels and letters (though please note, on the topic of
> misconceptions, that it has also been shown that they did not limit their
> reading to the NT, but did on occasion use the OT too).
> john arnold
>
> Centre for Medieval Studies
> Kings Manor
> Exhibition Square
> York YO1 2EP
> ENGLAND
>
John,
Thanks for the ideas and references. Maybe one reason for the emphasis on
the Gospels is that Gospel books were so common during the middle ages.
Concordances date from the late 13th century, so I'm assuming there must
have been enough complete Bibles around at that time to justify making
concordances. But my knowledge is really spotty in these areas, so hope
you'll post more about your work with the Cathars. I'm basically interested
in how T. S. Eliot uses borrowings from Dante, which led to an interest in
how Dante uses borrowings from the Bible. I thought Dante knew the Bible
tremendously well, in the sense that he often seems to play on very small
details. Thought the same was true of Hieronymus Bosch, and maybe of
Michelangelo. But it doesn't seem to be generally true.
pat sloane
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