medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
<"To contradict Denis, I have seen a polished metal mirror, Egyptian, in
<the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It shows a very clear image, & would
<be no problem for a woman to use for carefully-shaded eye makeup.
<Looking at one's reflection in it is easy: looking through, impossible.
good news! the quality of the image depends on the polish of the metal and
the intensity of the light, often better now. We've translated in France the
"through a looking glass" by "de l'autre coté du miroir". Three books about
the medieval mirror
Sabine Melchior Bonnet _Histoire du Miroir_ (Hachette Littératures, 1998)
Miroirs, jeux et reflets depuis l'Antiquité , catalogue des expositions de
Rouen, Dieppe et Bernay, Somogy 2000
Miroirs et jeux de miroirs dans la littérature médiévale, sous la direction
de F. Pomel, P.U. Rennes 2, « Interférences », 2003
***********************
N'en sai plus dire
***********************
Denis Hüe,
responsable du Master Lettres Langues Communication
Centre d'Etude des Textes Médiévaux, (CETM-CELAM)
Université de Haute Bretagne
http://www.uhb.fr/alc/medieval
----- Original Message -----
From: "Diana Wright" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 1:09 AM
Subject: Re: [M-R] 1 Cor 13.12 ("through a glass darkly") and Monastic
Spirituality
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Your English phrase is the KJV translation and it made perfect sense for
what they then knew of mirrors, which mostly did give back images darkly.
The Greek transliterates as: blepomen gar arti di' esoptou en ainigmati
ble,pomen ga.r a;rti di v evsoptrou evn aivni,gmati (trying a Greek
font here)
for we are now looking THROUGH a mirror INTO an enigma
Paul seems to be deliberately speaking of an impossibility to make his
point about what we now understand.
[Winston Churchill echoed this with his remark about Russia: "It is a
riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma."]
This is not, of course, responding to the question you asked, other than
that the Corinthian mirrors were usually polished brass.
DW
>
>
> The only thing I know about this verse is that mirrors in Antiquity were
> of silver, bronze or polished stone, and just a shadow would appear on
> such a surface. Silver or quicksilver were used lately, not before the 13
> th c. and not in monasteries. The "enigmatice" perception of the man is
> for me a personal experience of each day...
> and the glossa ordinaria says
> 12 Nunc.. Imágines veritátis per fidem vidéntur. Tunc autem fácie ad
> faciem.. Id est res ipsae maniféste videbúntur. Tunc cognoscam.. Id est
> vidébo promíssa, sicut ipse est,. hoc est praeséntem ad Deum esse, ubi
> Christus est. Vel sicut pr?scitus sum cognóscere quod modo est secrétum,
> Speculum.. Est ánima: spéculum vi cujus áliquo modo Deum nóscimus, sed
> obscúre. Aenigma.. Est autem aenígma non omnis, sed obscúra allegória.
> Unde sicut per spéculum significávit imáginem, ita nómine aenígmatis
> similitúdinem quamvis, sed obscúram et ad percipiéndum diffícilem
> intélligit.
>
> ***********************
> N'en sai plus dire
> ***********************
> Denis Hüe,
>
>
>>
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>> An echo of 1Corinthians 13.12 --"videmus nunc per speculum in enigmatice
>> tunc autem facie ad faciem" -- appears in a monastic liturgical office
>> I'm working on. It pops up in a hymn that juxtaposes the prison of the
>> flesh to the glory of salvation.
>>
>> The line is famous one -- "for now we see through a glass darkly". My
>> instinct tells me that it may well have a venerable tradition within a
>> monastic context, and in particular as part of monastic contemplative
>> theology/spirituality.
>>
>> I would love it if someone could confirm this for me, and perhaps point
>> to where I might dig for this. Particularly among Cistercians.
>>
>> Wtih many thanks in advance for your help,
>>
>> Cecilia
>>
>>
>> M.C.Gaposchkin, Ph.D.
>> History, Dartmouth College
>
>
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