medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Would
your comment concerning the difficulty in achieving objectivity when
teaching the development and history of Catholicism not apply to other religions
as well?
medieval-religion: Scholarly
discussions of medieval religion and culture
Thanks for the
interesting responses to the issue I brought up about teaching medieval
religion. I was surprised in my class, not so much by the ferocity of the
debate, as by the problems my students had in seeing this as an historical issue
- I thought I had been teaching about medieval responses to images/the elevation
of the host / the importance of pilgrimages etc. to students who were interested
in the Middle Ages but I got the feeling that some of them had chosen to do this
course because they wanted to explore the roots of the faith they had been
following all their lives - in some cases this was over 60 years - so I had to
tread carefully.
I also wonder about how one teaches objectively when
one is/is not a Christian oneself - as Laura has suggested the neutral tone one
tries to adopt is not always perceived as such! Nicholas Watson writing on
'Middle English mystics' (a descriptive term he takes issue with) in the
Cambridge History of Medieval English Literature comments that 'Since mystical
theology is itself greatly concerned with what the Cloud-author calls
'discretion of spirits' . . . it has meant that the academic study of mystical
theology has never been definitively detached from its practice.' He is
thinking of English Catholic scholars such as David Knowles and Edmund Colledge
who, Watson claims, wish to 'find a place from where English Catholics can speak
to the larger Catholic world'.
A number of members of this list are
clearly practising Catholics - how difficult is it to achieve objectivity when
teaching the development and history of Catholocism?
with thanks
again
Cate
********************************************************************** To join
the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to:
[log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave
medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to
contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
_______________________________________________________________________
This e-mail has been scanned for all known viruses by Peapod via the MessageLabs service.
This message is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient please notify us immediately. You may not copy this message or use it for any purpose or disclose its contents to any other person or take any action based on them.
E-Mails are susceptible to interference. UCAS and its subsidiaries, UCAS Enterprises and UCAS Trading, accept no responsibility for information, errors or omissions in this e-mail nor for its use or misuse nor for any act committed or omitted in connection with this communication. If in doubt, please verify the authenticity of the contents with the sender.
UCAS and its subsidiaries reserve the right to monitor and intercept communications for lawful business purposes
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
