you can always tell when i don't want to grade papers. i post to medieval
lists.
>_The Pursuit of the Millenium_ is, as Richard Landes says,
>a pathbreaking work, and it is still worth reading today
>for the wealth of information it contains. (It was
>originaly published in 1957.) The book should be read with
>care, however, as Cohn attributes all cases of medieval
>millenialism to economic and social dislocation. More
>recent studies suggest that this is too monocausal
>interpretation of some very complex events. As Bernard
>McGinn writes in _Visions of the End_: "Norman Cohn's _The
>Pursuit of the Millennium_ was a seminal work in directing
>attention to the importance of the apocalyptic-millenarian
>component in Western history, but its interpretive model
>was too one-sided to be convincing." Nonetheless, it's a
>well-written and fascinating book.
agreed. several issues here, tho.
1. the economic determinism of cohn (disturbances caused by the spreading
market) lead to focus on essentially "anti-modern" millennial movements
(paranoid, violent, hostile to novelties)
-- here i wd argue that he's only noted half the picture of millennialism's
relationship to economic activity and modernity; it also contributes to the
emeregence of these economic activities (pro-modern aspects of
millennialism).. cohn himself is aware of the egalitarian,
anti-authoritarian and innovative aspects of mnlm as well as the
proto-totalitarian currents, altho he comes down largely with his attention
to the latter trend.
2) the popular subversive focus vs. elite and "conservative" millennialism
(mcginn's critique of cohn).
-- here it seems a bit unfair of mcginn to make this point, since before
cohn, most medievalists were in complete denial of the existence of mnlm
anywhere, and cohn tackled the hard (under-documented) part. but mcginn's
critique is problematic in another sense. he wants to oppose the
"conservative elite mnlm" to the popular subversive kind and suggests that
the former is more pervasive and impt. i think that a) its only better
documented, not more pervasive or impt, and b) even in conservative dress,
mnlm is very subversive and dangerous and the fact that it takes even that
form is noteworthy for how impt and destabilizing a role mnlm played in
western medieval life. Cf the great difference btwn East and West on this
subject.
3) cataclsymic vs. transformative apocalyptic; hierarchical vs. demotic
millennialism. cohn emphasized cataclysmic demotic millennialism
(peasant's revolts, anti-ecclesiastical) with attention to how they turned
into cataclysmic hierarchical (from munster to the nazis)
while mcginn emphasizes transformational hierarchical (last emperor,
angelic pope, ecclesiastical joachitism).
gary dickson and i are looking at transformational demotic (peace of god,
great allelulia, pacifist crusades).
mnl studies has come a long way since 1957.
richard
Richard Landes
Center for Millennial Studies at Boston University Department of History
704 Commonwealth Ave. Suite 205 226 Bay State Road
Boston MA 02215 Boston MA 02215
617-358-0226 of 358-0225 fax 617-353-2558
of 353-2556 fax
http://www.mille.org [log in to unmask]
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