medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From Nancy Caciola:
>>Does anyone know of a medieval primary source available in English by or
>>about an atheist?
>>
>>I'm trying to design a new undergraduate class on medieval dissent,
>>roughly covering the period from about 1100-1400. Whereas it is easy to
>>find non-orthodox religious ideas, I wonder if anyone knows of a
medieval source that actively negates a religious world view. It would be
interesting to include such a text, if one exists.
One story in the Middle Irish Life of Columba doesn't describe an atheistic
view, but it definitely challenges the Christian view. The story is retold
and examined in J.F. Nagy's _Conversing with Angels and Ancients_ (look in
the index under Odhra/n). In the story, Columba and his monks arrive on Iona
and begin to build a church. But they take a rather pagan approach to
building it, since Columba notes that they need a foundation sacrifice.
Ochra/n volunteers to go into the ground. For some reason, they decide to
dig him up a while later. Odhra/n comes back to life and tells them the
afterlife is not as they have been taught it is. To hush him up, Columba
quickly orders the monks to re-bury Odhra/n. To my way of thinking, this
story seems to go a step beyond "non-orthodox."
Francine Nicholson
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