 |
 |
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture On Tuesday, November 25, 2008, at 11:55 pm, Marjorie Greene wrote: > "Catherine of Alexandria (d. ca. 305, supposedly). The virgin martyr > C.'s historicity is very poorly attested." > > How to pose my questions without sounding testy or argumentative...??? > Do ancient tradition and a huge corpus of icons (in the broadest sense > of the term) count for nothing? How old is that ancient tradition? How old are the icons? Where is the evidence of a cult site before the seventh century? Catherine is one of the most > frequently portrayed saints in both the eastern and western churches > and her cult is one of the most ancient. She was apparently wildly > popular and becomes ever more so the farther back we go in time. One > may discount the angelic translatio without throwing out the woman, no? Saying that someone's historicity is very poorly attested is hardly tantamount to denying that person's existence. > Assuming she did not exist, what grain of something accounts for her > putative existence? The legends surrounding other saints are equally > fantastic yet they endure. Could such a widely venerated woman have > been completely fictitious? Yes, she could (not that it's proven that C. is completely fictitious). Best, John Dillon ********************************************************************** 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