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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. 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. 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 > > ********************************************************************** 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