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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture This discussion reminds me of years ago, when I ran across information about disability/illness/deformity and the Catholic religious life: weren't Catholic religious orders refusing admittance to people with these things until very recently -- and this may still be the practice as far as I know)? IIRC the reasoning was along the lines of God only wants people perfect in body without blemish (I think there's something in the Hebrew Bible about who may or may not enter the Temple)? And it might tie into those ancient European/British? notions of body/soul that supported the whole trial by ordeal mentality. I recall being extremely upset at reading this -- I figure nobody in their right mind wants to be disabled or disfigured, it's an "act of nature" or "act of God," why would God make creatures so imperfect they are unable to serve him as vowed religious? This is favoritism at its absolute worst and condusive to despair in the afflicted. Any corrections of my faulty memory and any historical info is muchly appreciated -- I may be totally wrong in what I remember. This topic still interests me -- I have a severe scoliosis, which means under these laws I'm "flawed" and would never have been accepted into a religious order! -- as does the philosophical issues of embodiment/spirituality. Now I forget which ng this originated on -- Disability and Spirituality, or Medieval Religion? I'll post to both just to cover myself -- folks in either place may know something about this topic. Thanks in advance, Grace (putting my Invisible Cloak of Lurkdom back on) -- Grace Loehr <[log in to unmask]> ********************************************************************** 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