Purity: Early Medieval Perspectives I

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften

Organizer Name

Veronika Wieser, Albrecht Diem

Organizer Affiliation

Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Syracuse Univ.

Presider Name

Rutger Kramer

Presider Affiliation

Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften

Paper Title 1

Hildemar's Queer Anxieties

Presenter 1 Name

Albrecht Diem

Paper Title 2

The Double Lock within Monasteries, Tenth-Eleventh Centuries

Presenter 2 Name

Isabelle Cochelin

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Univ. of Toronto

Start Date

14-5-2017 8:30 AM

Session Location

Schneider 1245

Description

Purity: Early Medieval Perspectives I-II

The proposed sessions ‘Purity: Early Medieval Perspectives I-II’ will look at late antique and early medieval conceptions of purity, pollution and death. They will revisit past paradigms that remain central to this topic, most notably the works of Mary Douglas and Arnold Angenendt, and put them to the test in order to gauge their usefulness in modern scholarship. In order to so, these sessions will approach the subject of purity from two different angles. The first session will consider the importance of purity for monastic communities. This comprises considerations about the correct observance of monastic rules, about the discipline of monks or nuns, possible moral pitfalls and how they could be avoided or mended. Within this thematic strand, papers will pay special attention to the interdependence between the behavior of an individual and the condition of the community itself. The second session will address debates about purity in a wider ecclesiastical context, looking at liturgy, church councils and saints’ lives. The papers will explore the extent to which a rhetoric of purity could be used as a political or as a theological tool in order to establish episcopal authority and orthodoxy. Exploring saints’ lives and their shrines will show how ideas of bodily and spiritual purity relate to salvation and death.

Veronika Wieser

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May 14th, 8:30 AM

Purity: Early Medieval Perspectives I

Schneider 1245

Purity: Early Medieval Perspectives I-II

The proposed sessions ‘Purity: Early Medieval Perspectives I-II’ will look at late antique and early medieval conceptions of purity, pollution and death. They will revisit past paradigms that remain central to this topic, most notably the works of Mary Douglas and Arnold Angenendt, and put them to the test in order to gauge their usefulness in modern scholarship. In order to so, these sessions will approach the subject of purity from two different angles. The first session will consider the importance of purity for monastic communities. This comprises considerations about the correct observance of monastic rules, about the discipline of monks or nuns, possible moral pitfalls and how they could be avoided or mended. Within this thematic strand, papers will pay special attention to the interdependence between the behavior of an individual and the condition of the community itself. The second session will address debates about purity in a wider ecclesiastical context, looking at liturgy, church councils and saints’ lives. The papers will explore the extent to which a rhetoric of purity could be used as a political or as a theological tool in order to establish episcopal authority and orthodoxy. Exploring saints’ lives and their shrines will show how ideas of bodily and spiritual purity relate to salvation and death.

Veronika Wieser