medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I think Jim gets it pretty right. The essential quality in an historian
is a sympathetic imagination combined with the right degree of critical
distance. The following from the /Times /obituary of Professor George
Holmes (one of my doctoral examiners) is very pertinent:
'In /The Later Middle Ages 1272-1485 /(1962) Holmes declared that “the
understanding of a distant society requires an effort of the
imagination, exercised as far as possible without nostalgia,
sentimentality and contempt”. And noting that a medieval cathedral “is
still, no less than when it was built, the most splendid creation of the
medieval world” he urged that “the easiest way to get a glimpse of the
lost world is to stand in a cathedral and try to imagine the aims of its
builders”.'
Dr Jim Bugslag wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Marjorie,
> From a post-modern perspective, there is always an intersection of
> ideologies for art historians and any other kind of historian to deal
> with: that of the period they are dealing with, and their own. I have
> certainly noticed, when dealing with religious art, that there are
> radically different receptions among my students, along religious
> lines. A Catholic or Orthodox student is far more comfortable with the
> idea of praying to images, or even kissing them, while a Protestant or
> Jewish student finds it far easier to align themselves with the
> iconoclasts than the iconodules. And "areligious" materialist students
> are often dumbfounded either way. One would hope that anyone who has
> reached professional status in one of the historical fields would be
> self-aware enough to be able to handle such differences, but since we
> are all, after all, human, there is always unrealized potential along
> these lines. Visser's statement, or her friend's statement, seems a
> bit extreme. Cheers,
> Jim
>
>
> Marjorie Greene wrote:
>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
>> culture
>> Doctissimi,
>>
>> I would first like to thank the person who mentioned Margaret
>> Visser's Geometry of Love, which I am now happily devouring. I'll
>> head straight for Sta Agnese f.l.M. the next time I'm in Rome to see
>> all I missed and to see it, I hope, through Visser's eyes.
>> Early in her text, she makes the following startling (to me) statement:
>> "A friend who is a well-known art historian once told me how, as a
>> student, she had been assured by her colleagues that any scholarly
>> accomplishment in the area of Christian art was out of the question
>> for her because she was a 'believer'".
>> Is this a common attitude? It suggests that an historian of anything
>> must be some sort of emotional blank slate, with no affective stake
>> in or concern with what s/he is writing about. I'm trained in
>> literary critical theory and practice. No one ever told me that my
>> work on Christian authors would be worthless since I'm a believer. I
>> find the notion absurd.
>> Any comments?
>> MG
>>
>> Marjorie Greene
>> http://medrelart.shutterfly.com/
>>
>>
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