|
| I have more than once come across this question as a way of distinguishing
| corporeality from existence. It is similar to the story of Jean Buridan's
| donkey (will vs. desire?). I was physically present during a philosophy
| seminar in which a question was raised of a similar nature that made me
| suspect the professor of being frivolous, but now I strongly suspect that a
| lot of philosophy seminars debate such questions with a straight face
| (without mentioning angels). In medieval universities, angels seem to have
| allowed for the entertaining lesson plans that science fiction can play
| today: Albert Magnus, I believe, discusses how or whether angels
| communicate, perhaps in the same way that we discuss "The Physics of Star
| Trek." John Milton's reference to angelic bowel movements continues the
| tradition in disquieting detail. Sorry I cannot provide any bibliographical
| leads. Dan
I think you are right here. One of my favourite questions (which I
had once planned to co-edit), is a late 13th century quodlibetal
question from Paris: 'if a priest dies, does he have to reordained if
he comes back from the dead?' Hmm. Wes Craven's Night of the
Living Priests.... :-)
Even here, as somewhat silly as this question is, one must take
into consideration its institutional and theological context. As a
quodlibetal question, one can just imagine a mealy mouthed, pain-
in-the-butt student (or an annoying fellow master), asking this
question, trying to trip up the respondent. It was included in the
'published' edition of the quodlibetals because it provided a clear
opportunity to discuss the nature and parameters of the character
of order: ie, the imprint of sacerdotal character remains upon the
soul indefinitely, regardless of what kind of embodiment one may
envision.
Cheers
Jim
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Dr James R Ginther
Dept. of Theology and Religious Studies
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT UK
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Phone: +44.113.233.6749
Fax: +44.113.233.3654
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http://www.leeds.ac.uk/trs/
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/cms/
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/trs/rg **** NEW ****
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"First up ther wor nobbut God. An 'e said, "Ee, lad, turn th'bloody
light on." -Yorkshire paraphase of Gen. 1.2
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