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
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