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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Jim and Richard, I certainly hope you continue your dialogue as it's very interesting. I think, though, that there might be a problem with the relatively modern term "urban legend," which means for all intents and purposes a story that is assuredly not true. It is unfortunate that both "legend" and "myth" have come to mean "nonsense" or even "lie" in general (non-scholarly) usage. However, scholars use "legend" and "myth" with their original meanings, so those terms are less problematic than "urban legend," a term that has, I believe, only recently come into vogue. Perhaps, a change in terminology would be helpful. In this vein, I would also point out that, because of the list's recent discussion of "DaVinci Code," I just finished Ehrman's book on the subject of fact and fiction therein and he discusses exactly the sort of issues you both bring up about sources, what to trust, what to discard, and why. Of course, he's dealing with sources a good deal older than our period of interest... MG _________________________________________________________________ On the road to retirement? Check out MSN Life Events for advice on how to get there! http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement ********************************************************************** 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