Podcasts about medieval christianity

Benedetta Carlini, Lesbian Nun The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 314 with Heather Rose Jones In this episode we talk about: The historic and religious context of Benedetta's life Benedetta's sexual encounters Sources mentioned Brown, Judith C. 1984. “Lesbian Sexuality in Renaissance Italy: The Case of Sister Benedetta Carlini” in Signs 9 (1984): 751-58. (reprinted in: Freedman, Esteele B., Barbara C. Gelpi, Susan L. Johnson & Kathleen M. Weston. 1985. The Lesbian Issue: Essays from Signs. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN 0-2256-26151-4) Brown, Judith C. 1986. Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy. Oxford University Press, New York. ISBN 0-19-504225-5 Holler, Jacqueline. 1999. “'More Sins than the Queen of England': Marina de San Miguel before the Mexican Inquisition” in Women in the Inquisition: Spain and the New World, ed. Mary E. Giles. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. ISBN 0-8018-5931-X pp.209-28 Matter, E. Ann. 1989. “My Sister, My Spouse: Woman-Identified Women in Medieval Christianity” in Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality, eds. Judith Plaskow & Carol P. Christ. Harper & Row, San Francisco. Watt, Diane. 1997. “Read My Lips: Clipping and Kyssyng in the Early Sixteenth Century” in Queerly Phrased: Language, Gender, and Sexuality, ed. Anna Livia and Kira Hall. New York, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-510471-4 This topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here: Benedetta Carlini A transcript of this podcast is available here. Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/ Twitter: @LesbianMotif Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon Links to Heather Online Website: http://alpennia.com Email: Heather Rose Jones Mastodon: @heatherrosejones@Wandering.Shop Bluesky: @heatherrosejones Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Our F/Favorite Tropes Part 13: Mothers, Sisters, Daughter – Pseudo-familial Relationships The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 289 with Heather Rose Jones In this episode we talk about: Relationships using the imagery of sisters and mother/daughter Age-gap relationships ReferencesBabayan, Kathryn. “'In Spirit We Ate Each Other's Sorrow' Female Companionship in Seventeenth-Century Safavi Iran” in Babayan, Kathryn and Afsaneh Najmabadi (eds.). 2008. Islamicate Sexualities: Translations Across Temporal Geographies of Desire. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-03204-0 Boswell, John. 1994. Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe. Villard Books, New York. ISBN 0-679-43228-0 Hansen, Karen V. 1995. "No Kisses is Like Youres" in Gender and History vol 7, no 2: 153-182. Lasser, Carol. 1988. "'Let Us Be Sisters Forever': The Sororal Model of Nineteenth-Century Female Friendship" in Signs vol. 14, no. 1 158-181. Levin, Richard A. 1997. “What? How? Female-Female Desire in Sidney's New Arcadia” in Criticism 39:4 : 463-49. Matter, E. Ann. 1989. “My Sister, My Spouse: Woman-Identified Women in Medieval Christianity” in Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality, eds. Judith Plaskow & Carol P. Christ. Harper & Row, San Francisco. Merrill, Lisa. 2000. When Romeo was a Woman: Charlotte Cushman and her Circle of Female Spectators. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor. ISBN 978-0-472-08749-5 Morgan, Mihangel. 2016. “From Huw Arwystli to Siôn Eirian: Representative Examples of Cadi/Queer Life from Medieval to Twentieth-century Welsh Literature” in Queer Wales: The History, Culture and Politics of Queer Life in Wales. Huw Osborne (ed). University of Wales Press, Cardiff. ISBN 978-1-7831-6863-7 Rizzo, Betty. 1994. Companions without Vows: Relationships among Eighteenth-Century British Women. Athens: University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-3218-5 Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll. 1975. “The Female World of Love and Ritual: Relations between Women in Nineteenth-Century America” in Signs vol. 1, no. 1 1-29. Vanita, Ruth. 1996. Sappho and the Virgin Mary: Same-Sex Love and the English Literary Imagination. Columbia University Press, New York. ISBN 0-231-10551-7 Vicinus, Martha. 2004. Intimate Friends: Women Who Loved Women, 1778-1928. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN 0-226-85564-3 Wiethaus, Ulrike. 1993. “In Search of Medieval Women's Friendships: Hildegard of Bingen's Letters to her Female Contemporaries” in Wiethaus, Ulrike (ed) Maps of Flesh and Light: The Religious Experience of Medieval Women Mystics. Syracuse University Press, Syracuse. ISBN 0-8156-2560-X A transcript of this podcast is available here. Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/ Twitter: @LesbianMotif Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon Links to Heather Online Website: http://alpennia.com Email: Heather Rose Jones Mastodon: @heatherrosejones@Wandering.Shop Bluesky: @heatherrosejones Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

How does medieval history teach us more about Christianity? We get a glimpse into the past with in this week's episode with Dr. Grace Hammer. Dr. Hammer is a medievalist who specializes in Middle English. She has a new book called Jesus Through Medieval Eyes. She also hosts a podcast called Old Books with Grace. We have hosted a couple of episodes around the context of the split between the Eastern and Western Churches, but this week we get to talk about how the context of the western, European church influenced how the church talked about Jesus. Click here for more information about all the ways to know about Dr. Grace Hamman's workClick here to sign up for Grace's monthly newsletter, Medievalish.Contact Cyndi Parker through Narrative of Place.Learn more about me and sign up for upcoming tours of Israel/Palestine.Join Cyndi Parker's  Patreon Team! 

The Dildo Episode The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 278 with Heather Rose Jones In this episode we talk about: The cultural dynamics of dildo use A history of dildos in western culture The social and legal consequences of dildo use Terminology and materials of construction Sources usedArvas, Abdulhamit. 2014. “From the Pervert, Back to the Beloved: Homosexuality and Ottoman Literary History, 11453-1923” in The Cambridge History of Gay and Lesbian Literature ed. E.L. McCallum & Mikko Tuhkanen. Cambridge University Press, New York. ISBN 978-1-107-03521-8 Auanger, Lisa. “Glimpses through a Window: An Approach to Roman Female Homoeroticism through Art Historical and Literary Evidence” in Rabinowitz, Nancy Sorkin & Lisa Auanger eds. 2002. Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World. University of Texas Press, Austin. ISBN 0-29-77113-4 Benkov, Edith. “The Erased Lesbian: Sodomy and the Legal Tradition in Medieval Europe” in Same Sex Love and Desire Among Women in the Middle Ages. ed. by Francesca Canadé Sautman & Pamela Sheingorn. Palgrave, New York, 2001. Blake, Liza. 2011. “Dildos and Accessories: The Functions of Early Modern Strap-Ons” in Ornamentalism: The Art of Renaissance Accessories. University of Michigan Press. pp. 130-156 Boehringer, Sandra (trans. Anna Preger). 2021. Female Homosexuality in Ancient Greece and Rome. Routledge, New York. ISBN 978-0-367-74476-2 Bon, Ottaviano. 1587. Descrizione del serraglio del Gransignore. Translated by Robert Withers (1625) as The Grand Signiors Serraglio, published in: Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas his Pilgrimes edited by Samuel Purchas. Borris, Kenneth (ed). 2004. Same-Sex Desire in the English Renaissance: A Sourcebook of Texts, 1470-1650. Routledge, New York. ISBN 978-1-138-87953-9 Brantôme (Pierre de Bourdeille, seigneur de Brantôme). 1740. Vies des Dames Galantes. Garnier Frères, Libraires-Éditeurs, Paris. Burshatin, Israel. “Elena Alias Eleno: Genders, Sexualities, and ‘Race' in the Mirror of Natural History in Sixteenth-Century Spain” in Ramet, Sabrina Petra (ed). 1996. Gender Reversals and Gender Cultures: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives. Routledge, London. ISBN 0-415-11483-7 Castle, Terry (ed). 2003. The Literature of Lesbianism: A Historical Anthology from Ariosto to Stonewall. Columbia University Press, New York. ISBN 0-231-12510-0 Clark, Anna. 1996. "Anne Lister's construction of lesbian identity", Journal of the History of Sexuality, 7(1), pp. 23-50. Clarke, John R. 1998. Looking at Lovemaking: Constructions of Sexuality in Roman Art 100 B.C.-A.D. 250. University of California Press, Berkeley. ISBN 0-520-20024-1 Crompton, Louis. 1985. “The Myth of Lesbian Impunity: Capital Laws from 1270 to 1791” in Licata, Salvatore J. & Robert P. Petersen (eds). The Gay Past: A Collection of Historical Essays. Harrington Park Press, New York. ISBN 0-918393-11-6 (Also published as Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 6, numbers 1/2, Fall/Winter 1980.) Donato, Clorinda. 2006. “Public and Private Negotiations of Gender in Eighteenth-Century England and Italy: Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and the Case of Catterina Vizzani” in British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 29. pp.169-189 Donato, Clorinda. 2020. The Life and Legend of Catterina Vizzani: Sexual identity, science and sensationalism in eighteenth-century Italy and England. Voltaire Foundation, Oxford. ISBN 978-1-78962-221-8 Donoghue, Emma. 1995. Passions Between Women: British Lesbian Culture 1668-1801. Harper Perennial, New York. ISBN 0-06-017261-4 Eriksson, Brigitte. 1985. “A Lesbian Execution in Germany, 1721: The Trial Records” in Licata, Salvatore J. & Robert P. Petersen (eds). The Gay Past: A Collection of Historical Essays. Harrington Park Press, New York. ISBN 0-918393-11-6 (Also published as Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 6, numbers 1/2, Fall/Winter 1980.) Faderman, Lillian. 1981. Surpassing the Love of Men. William Morrow and Company, Inc., New York. ISBN 0-688-00396-6 Halberstam, Judith (Jack). 1997. Female Masculinity. Duke University Press, Durham. ISBN 978-1-4780-0162-1 Haley, Shelley P. “Lucian's ‘Leaena and Clonarium': Voyeurism or a Challenge to Assumptions?” in Rabinowitz, Nancy Sorkin & Lisa Auanger eds. 2002. Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World. University of Texas Press, Austin. ISBN 0-29-77113-4 Hubbard, Thomas K. 2003. Homosexuality in Greece and Rome: A Sourcebook of Basic Documents. University of California Press, Berkeley. ISBN 978-0-520-23430-7 Karras, Ruth Mazo. 2005. Sexuality in Medieval Europe: Doing Unto Others. Routledge, New York. ISBN 978-0-415-28963-4 Klein, Ula Lukszo. 2021. Sapphic Crossings: Cross-Dressing Women in Eighteenth-Century British Literature. University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville. ISBN 978-0-8139-4551-4 Krimmer, Elisabeth. 2004. In the Company of Men: Cross-Dressed Women Around 1800. Wayne State University Press, Detroit. ISBN 0-8143-3145-9 Lansing, Carol. 2005. “Donna con Donna? A 1295 Inquest into Female Sodomy” in Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History: Sexuality and Culture in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, Third Series vol. II: 109-122. Lardinois, André. “Lesbian Sappho and Sappho of Lesbos” in Bremmer, Jan. 1989. From Sappho to de Sade: Moments in the History of Sexuality. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-02089-1 Linkinen, Tom. 2015. Same-sex Sexuality in Later Medieval English Culture. Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam. ISBN 978-90-8964-629-3 Matter, E. Ann. 1989. “My Sister, My Spouse: Woman-Identified Women in Medieval Christianity” in Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality, eds. Judith Plaskow & Carol P. Christ. Harper & Row, San Francisco. Michelsen, Jakob. 1996. “Von Kaufleuten, Waisenknaben und Frauen in Männerkleidern: Sodomie im Hamburg des 18. Jahrhunderts” in Zeitschrift für Sexualforschung 9: 226-27. Mills, Robert. 2015. Seeing Sodomy in the Middle Ages. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN 978-0-226-16912-5 O'Driscoll, Sally. 2010. “A Crisis of Femininity: Re-Making Gender in Popular Discourse” in Lesbian Dames: Sapphism in the Long Eighteenth Century. Beynon, John C. & Caroline Gonda eds. Ashgate, Farnham. ISBN 978-0-7546-7335-4 Phillips, Kim M. & Barry Reay. 2011. Sex Before Sexuality: A Premodern History. Polity Press, Cambridge. ISBN 978-0-7456-2522-5 Rabinowitz, Nancy Sorkin. “Excavating Women's Homoeroticism in Ancient Greece: The Evidence from Attic Vase Painting” in Rabinowitz, Nancy Sorkin & Lisa Auanger eds. 2002. Among Women: From the Homosocial to the Homoerotic in the Ancient World. University of Texas Press, Austin. ISBN 0-29-77113-4 Rowson, Everett K. 1991. “The categorization of gender and sexual irregularity in medieval Arabic vice lists” in Body guards : the cultural politics of gender ambiguity edited by Julia Epstein & Kristina Straub. Routledge, New York. ISBN 0-415-90388-2 Schleiner, Winfried. “Cross-Dressing, Gender Errors, and Sexual Taboos in Renaissance Literature” in Ramet, Sabrina Petra (ed). 1996. Gender Reversals and Gender Cultures: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives. Routledge, London. ISBN 0-415-11483-7 Traub, Valerie. 1994. “The (In)Significance of ‘Lesbian' Desire in Early Modern England” in Queering the Renaissance ed. by Jonathan Goldberg. Duke University Press, Durham and London. ISBN 0-8223-1381-2 Traub, Valerie. 2002. The Renaissance of Lesbianism in Early Modern England. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-44885-9 Van der Meer, Theo. 1991. “Tribades on Trial: Female Same-Sex Offenders in Late Eighteenth-Century Amsterdam” in Journal of the History of Sexuality 1:3 424-445. Velasco, Sherry. 2011. Lesbians in Early Modern Spain. Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville. ISBN 978-0-8265-1750-0 Wahl, Elizabeth Susan. 1999. Invisible Relations: Representations of Female Intimacy in the Age of Enlightenment. Stanford University Press, Stanford. ISBN 0-8047-3650-2 Walen, Denise A. 2005. Constructions of Female Homoeroticism in Early Modern Drama. New York: Palgrave MacMillan. ISBN 978-1-4039-6875-3 This topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here: Dildo A transcript of this podcast is available here. Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/ Twitter: @LesbianMotif Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon Links to Heather Online Website: http://alpennia.com Email: Heather Rose Jones Mastodon: @heatherrosejones@Wandering.Shop Bluesky: @heatherrosejones Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

This episode was originally recorded for Cody Cook's podcast Cantus-Firmus. In our conversation, we discuss medieval Christianity, the Enlightenment, and the long road to religious freedom in the west. I am a social studies teacher and my class covers the global middle ages, and it was a lot of fun to take a dive into historical issues that I teach in the classroom and draw comparisons to their theological, social, and political relevance. This was a really fun conversation that addresses a different but related set of topics that I cover on the show, and I know you are going to enjoy it! Media Referenced:Cantus-Firmus Podcast: https://www.cantus-firmus.com/podcast/Brent Nongbri – Before Religion: A History of a Modern ConceptEdward Dolnick – The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, the Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern WorldJames Hannam – The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific RevolutionLars Brownworth – Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western CivilizationTom Holland – Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the WorldAugustine of Hippo – City of GodThe Protestant Libertarian Podcast is a project of the Libertarian Christian Institute and a part of the Christians For Liberty Network. The Libertarian Christian Institute can be found at www.libertarianchristians.com. Questions, comments, suggestions? Please reach out to me at theprotestantlibertarian@gmail.com.  You can also follow the podcast on Twitter: @prolibertypod. For more about the show, you can go to theprotestantlibertarianpodcast.com. If you like the show and want to support it, you can! Check out the Protestant Libertarian Podcast page at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/theplpodcast. Also, please consider giving me a star rating and leaving me a review, it really helps expand the shows profile! Thanks!

A conversation with Peter Heather (King's College, London) about his new book Christendom: The Triumph of a Religion, AD 300-1300 (New York: Knopf, 2023). Peter is one of the leading historians of the fall of the western Roman empire and the emergence there of the post-Roman, "barbarian" kingdoms. He now brings a revisionist approach to the emergence of the Church in (mostly western) Europe. This book covers a lot of ground, and so we focus on the early period, where his arguments affect the east too. We talk about the role of contingency, the near-miss of Homoian Christianity, the decisive role of secular rulers, and much more. 

Alex Bernardo was my guest to discuss medieval Christianity's integration of church and state, how liberalism paved the way for freedom of religion, and why […]

In this episode I am once again joined by Dr Yannis Toussulis, Sufi lineage holder, psychotherapist, and author of ‘Sufism: The Way of Blame'. Dr Toussulis takes a deep dive into the practice and history of Sufism, including its historical interactions with Buddhism, Vedantism, Zoroastrianism, and posits a neoplatonic and Hellenic substructure underpinning Sufi mysticism. Dr Toussulis outlines the 4 phases of Sufism as a living practice, details its 7 stages of wisdom, and explains the role of bliss and tranquility in Sufi contemplation. Dr Toussulis also discusses the crucial role of the teacher, the importance of the circle of fellow practitioners, the role of ethics and direct experience, and why true Sufism must go beyond union with God as the ultimate end and purpose of the path. … Video version: https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep194-sufism-the-way-of-blame-dr-yannis-toussulis-2 
Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast'. … Topics Include: 00:00 - Intro 01:00 - Why the book? 03:04 - What is Sufism? 05:59 - What is the Way of Blame? 07:29 - Exoteric and esoteric Islam 10:45 - Influences from Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, and Buddhism 12:44 - Hellenism and the neoplatonic substructure of Sufism 14:02 - What is Neoplatonism? 15:37 - Nondualistic vs dualistic Sufism 21:31 - Evidence of Vedantic influence on Sufism 23:00 - Patanjali and other influence on Sufism 24:00 - Did Islam influence Medieval Christianity? 26:53 - The 4 phases of Sufism as a practice 29:59 - How to enter a school of Sufism 30:33 - Sufi meditative practices and states of direct cognition 33:26 - Sufism vs Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta 34:24 - Different approaches to morality in Sufism 36:52 - Application of the Sharia 38:47 - Sexual ethics in Islam 43:19 - Academic vs practice knowledge 45:43 - Constituents of Sufi practice 49:13 - Group practice 52:49 - 7 stages of wisdom 58:00 - Bliss and tranquility 59:50 - Dark night of the soul 01:02:05 - The role of the teacher and transmission 01:06:16 - Siddhi and spiritual progress 01:08:30 - Human completeness and going beyond union with God 01:11:36 - Effects of success in Sufi practice 01:14:26 - Sufi views on death and the afterlife 01:17:07 - The future of Sufism in the West 01:22:07 - Islam's critique of secularism 01:23:54 - Dogma vs spiritual potency 01:27:27 - Unprecedented challenges facing humanity today 01:29:34 - A Sufi response? 01:31:54 - Importance of direct experience … Previous episode with Dr Yannis Toussulis: - https://www.guruviking.com/podcast/ep179-adventures-of-a-sufi-mystic-dr-yannis-toussulis … To find our more about Dr Yannis Toussulis, visit: - http://www.itlaqfoundation.com/ For more interviews, videos, and more visit: - https://www.guruviking.com Music ‘Deva Dasi' by Steve James

This episode of Spotlights features Michael S. Northcott, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Ethics at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He talks about his new book, God and Gaia: Science, Religion and Ethics on a Living Planet (Routledge, 2023), which explores the overlap between traditional religious cosmologies and the scientific Gaia theory of James Lovelock. The book engages with traditional cosmologies from the Indian Vedas and classical Greece to Medieval Christianity, including case material from Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, and Great Britain. He discusses how it is possible to repair the destabilizing impacts of contemporary human activities on the Earth community, particularly by drawing on sacred traditions and honoring the differential agency of humans and nonhumans.  

Professor Rabia Gregory's primary research interest is the history of Christianity in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. She approaches the study of religion through book history, material culture, and theories of gender. Her book, Marrying Jesus in Medieval and Early Modern Northern Europe: Popular Culture and Religious Reform, published by Ashgate, uses previously unpublished cultural artifacts to revise long-standing assumptions about religion, gender, and popular culture. In the book, she demonstrates that by the fourteenth century, worldly, sexually active brides of Christ, both male and female, were no longer aberrations and provide a history of the dispersion of theology about the bride of Christ in the period between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries and explains how this metaphor, initially devised for a religious elite, became integral to the laity's pursuit of salvation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Professor Rabia Gregory's primary research interest is the history of Christianity in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. She approaches the study of religion through book history, material culture, and theories of gender. Her book, Marrying Jesus in Medieval and Early Modern Northern Europe: Popular Culture and Religious Reform, published by Ashgate, uses previously unpublished cultural artifacts to revise long-standing assumptions about religion, gender, and popular culture. In the book, she demonstrates that by the fourteenth century, worldly, sexually active brides of Christ, both male and female, were no longer aberrations and provide a history of the dispersion of theology about the bride of Christ in the period between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries and explains how this metaphor, initially devised for a religious elite, became integral to the laity's pursuit of salvation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

Professor Rabia Gregory's primary research interest is the history of Christianity in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. She approaches the study of religion through book history, material culture, and theories of gender. Her book, Marrying Jesus in Medieval and Early Modern Northern Europe: Popular Culture and Religious Reform, published by Ashgate, uses previously unpublished cultural artifacts to revise long-standing assumptions about religion, gender, and popular culture. In the book, she demonstrates that by the fourteenth century, worldly, sexually active brides of Christ, both male and female, were no longer aberrations and provide a history of the dispersion of theology about the bride of Christ in the period between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries and explains how this metaphor, initially devised for a religious elite, became integral to the laity's pursuit of salvation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Rabia Gregory's primary research interest is the history of Christianity in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. She approaches the study of religion through book history, material culture, and theories of gender. Her book, Marrying Jesus in Medieval and Early Modern Northern Europe: Popular Culture and Religious Reform, published by Ashgate, uses previously unpublished cultural artifacts to revise long-standing assumptions about religion, gender, and popular culture. In the book, she demonstrates that by the fourteenth century, worldly, sexually active brides of Christ, both male and female, were no longer aberrations and provide a history of the dispersion of theology about the bride of Christ in the period between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries and explains how this metaphor, initially devised for a religious elite, became integral to the laity's pursuit of salvation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Rabia Gregory's primary research interest is the history of Christianity in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. She approaches the study of religion through book history, material culture, and theories of gender. Her book, Marrying Jesus in Medieval and Early Modern Northern Europe: Popular Culture and Religious Reform, published by Ashgate, uses previously unpublished cultural artifacts to revise long-standing assumptions about religion, gender, and popular culture. In the book, she demonstrates that by the fourteenth century, worldly, sexually active brides of Christ, both male and female, were no longer aberrations and provide a history of the dispersion of theology about the bride of Christ in the period between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries and explains how this metaphor, initially devised for a religious elite, became integral to the laity's pursuit of salvation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies

Professor Rabia Gregory's primary research interest is the history of Christianity in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. She approaches the study of religion through book history, material culture, and theories of gender. Her book, Marrying Jesus in Medieval and Early Modern Northern Europe: Popular Culture and Religious Reform, published by Ashgate, uses previously unpublished cultural artifacts to revise long-standing assumptions about religion, gender, and popular culture. In the book, she demonstrates that by the fourteenth century, worldly, sexually active brides of Christ, both male and female, were no longer aberrations and provide a history of the dispersion of theology about the bride of Christ in the period between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries and explains how this metaphor, initially devised for a religious elite, became integral to the laity's pursuit of salvation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The conclusion to a look at the golden age of Medieval Christianity.

As the crusades draw to a close, Medieval Christianity hits its high point.

As the crusades draw to a close, Medieval Christianity hits its high point.

The conclusion to a look at the golden age of Medieval Christianity.

The fall of the Roman Empire brings about a new era in Christian history.

The fall of the Roman Empire brings about a new era in Christian history.

Encountering Orthodoxy can feel, to Westerners, like a real re-orientation (pardon the pun) of their understanding of Christianity. A supposed point of departure, even contention, between East and West has traditionally been in their theologies of salvation—specifically in the atonement. What has Christ done for us? That question shapes entire lives, entire cultures. In his book Deification Through the Cross: An Eastern Christian Theology of Salvation, the Rev. Dr. Khaled Anatolios lays out the premise that, the deeper you go into Christian tradition, into the doctrine of salvation—which is to say, into the accounts of faithful Christians' exploration of what Jesus has done for them—the more you find a unified doctrine of salvation that East and West fully share and embrace. We've brought on three guests today for a conversation about just this question. Our first guest is Dr. Marcus Plested. Marcus is Henri de Lubac Chair in Theology at Marquette University, and has taught, lectured, and published widely in patristic, Byzantine, and modern Orthodox theology. He is the author of two books to date: The Macarian Legacy: The Place of Macarius-Symeon in the Eastern Christian Tradition and Orthodox Readings of Aquinas. He also taught at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies in Cambridge for 13 years. Dr. Joshua McManaway is our other guest. Josh is visiting assistant professor of the practice in the theology department at the University of Notre Dame. His research focuses principally on early and Medieval Christianity. Our third guest and moderator is Dr. Timothy O'Malley. Tim is the director of education at the McGrath Institute for Church Life and academic director of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy. He specializes in liturgical-sacramental theology, marriage and family, catechesis, and spirituality. Now strap on your knapsacks for another ecumenical adventure. Are you bringing along a rosary, or a prayer rope? Try THE LIVING WORD PLUS free for 30 days --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/living-church/support

Christian Education

Christian Education

With Pastor Paige on a well-deserved break, we are pleased to welcome Dr. Jim Halverson, PhD, a member of FCC Dundee and a professor at Judson University. Jim has particular expertise in Medieval Christianity, the Reformation, and world history, and he brings that knowledge to bear on our questions about salvation: What are we saved from - and how? How have we answered these questions differently through the ages? How is our cultural context - our lived experience - reflected in how we think about God? All this and a lot more (yikes - it's kind of a long episode)! We hope you find this interesting and inspiring!

Seth's long-awaited episode on the breasts!But seriously though, in this episode the SSD crew discuss how breasts and breast milk have be utilized as religious imagery and a pedagogical tool to impart truths of the Christian faith.They also discuss the breast in religious art; breasts and bodily imagery as they appear in the writings of the mystics; stories of miraculous lactation; breast-feeding and the La Leche League.Whatever your thoughts on the breast, this is not the episode to miss.

AJ Langley speaks to Professor Carolyn Muessig (University of Calgary) about the fourteenth-century English mystic and anchorite Julian of Norwich. We discuss hope, Julian's faith in humanity and belief in a compassionate God, and the benefits of The Revelations of Divine Love as a teaching tool. Professor Carolyn Muessig is the Chair of Christian Thought in the Department of Classics and Religion, University of Calgary. She specializes in Medieval Christianity, with particular emphasis on its devotional dimensions and the contribution of female teachers and preachers in Western Europe. Among her publications are The Faces of Women in the Sermons of Jacques de Vitry and The Stigmata in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. She enjoys teaching undergraduates, MA and PhD students. She has supervised to completion over four dozen graduate students. She is presently assessing the activities of medieval and early modern female preachers. Professor Muessig is committed to bringing together diverse communities from within and outside academe to explore the significance of Christianity in art, history and culture.

“Startle us, O God, with your truth and open our hearts and our minds to your wondrous love. Speak your word to us; silence in us any voice but your own and be with us now as we turn our attention, our minds, and our hearts, to you, in Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN. Julian of Norwich lay dying in bed in her early 30s when she was graced with a set of divine showings – mystical encounters with God. If there is one word to describe Julian’s visions it’s that she discovered the eternal God to be kind. Remember Brother Curtis’ reflections from a few weeks ago on this word kind. Its related to our word kin, or kindred. God has chosen in Jesus to become our kin, and in the kinship of incarnation, God is supremely kind. Julian lived at the height of Medieval Christianity that was very concerned with the last judgment: that moment depicted in today’s Gospel when the scroll of history is rolled up, and we stand before the Judgment Seat.”

Medieval Love Poetry (Reprise) The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 127 with Heather Rose Jones This episode looks at examples of courtly love--both in poetry and in prose--expressed between two women, or by two female characters. In this episode we talk about: The context and conventions of the “courtly love” genre The problems of relating the sentiments expressed in courtly love literature to everyday lives and experiences Scholarly blind spots when interpreting same-sex expressions of courtly love Love, desire, and friendship between women in the 13th century French story L'Escoufle The 13th century troubariz (female troubador) Bieiris de Romans and the love poem she wrote to a woman named Maria A passionate poem of love and longing written by one anonymous 12th century German woman to another Books mentioned The full text of Na Maria by Bieris de Romans can be found in: Bogin, Meg. 1976. The Women Troubadours. Paddington Press, Ltd., New York. ISBN 0-8467-0113-8 The full text of the Tegernsee MS poem can be found in: Matter, E. Ann. 1989. “My Sister, My Spouse: Woman-Identified Women in Medieval Christianity” in Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality, eds. Judith Plaskow & Carol P. Christ. Harper & Row, San Francisco. This topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here: L'Escoufle Na Maria (Bieiris de Romans) Tegernsee ms A transcript of this podcast is available here. Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/ Twitter: @LesbianMotif Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon Links to Heather Online Website: http://alpennia.com Email: Heather Rose Jones Twitter: @heatherosejones Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

In this episode, called “Swallowed Whole,” Dr. Steer considers Gothic cathedrals as an art form and examines their relationship to European power structures. The episode begins with the earliest Christian art, in the catacombs of Rome, and ends with a brief consideration of the role and function of Western European churches today. This episode also covers the important role of relics in Medieval Christianity, the rise of pilgrimage culture in Europe and its connections to economics and architectural innovation, as well as the affective impact of the interior spaces of cathedrals.   Sources + further reading:  “A Beginner's Guide to Romanesque Art – Smarthistory.” https://smarthistory.org/a-beginners-guide-to-romanesque-art/. “Basilica of San Vitale.” http://www.turismo.ra.it/eng/Discover-the-area/Art-and-culture/Unesco-world-heritage/Basilica-of-San-Vitale. “Feminae: Details Page.” https://inpress.lib.uiowa.edu/feminae/DetailsPage.aspx?Feminae_ID=31968. Harris, Beth and Steven Zucker. "Cathedral of Notre Dame de Chartres." in Smarthistory, December 18, 2015. https://smarthistory.org/cathedral-of-notre-dame-de-chartres-part-1-of-3/. “Medieval Chartres- The North Transept Rose Window.” http://www.medart.pitt.edu/image/France/Chartres/Chartres-Cathedral/Windows/Transept-windows/121A-North-Rose/Chartres-121NorthRose.HTM. “More Oude Kerk - Amsterdam Art.” https://www.amsterdamart.com/events/516/more-oude-kerk. Oude kerk. “Sarah van Sonsbeeck.” https://oudekerk.nl/en/programma/sarah-van-sonsbeeck/. Sorabella, Jean. “Pilgrimage in Medieval Europe.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pilg/hd_pilg.htm.  “Visit the Catacombs.” http://www.catacombepriscilla.com/visita_catacomba_en.html.   Credits Unboxing the Canon is hosted and produced by Linda Steer for her course “Introduction to the History of Western Art” in the Department of Visual Arts at Brock University. Brock University is located on the traditional lands of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe peoples. Our sound designer and editor is Devin Dempsey, who is also reading these credits. Our logo was created by Cherie Michels. The music for this podcast has been adapted from “Night in Venice” and “Inspired” by Kevin MacLeod. Both are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0. The Gregorian chanting was adapted from ramagochi's “Binaural catholic gregorian chant mass liturgy” licensed under CC BY 3.0. We are grateful to Alison Innes from the Faculty of Humanities for her sharing her podcasting wisdom and offering support. This podcast is funded by the Humanities Research Institute at Brock University.    

What Medieval Lesbians Did in Bed The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 20 with Heather Rose Jones This episode looks at the historic evidence for the specific sexual techniques enjoyed between women in the middle ages and Renaissance. Caution: although this essay isn't intended as erotica, it does include a lot of detailed technical descriptions of bodies, sex acts, and sex toys. The content is very definitely Not Safe For Work. In this episode we talk about: What are the sources of historic evidence for this question? Which sources can we trust for what women were actually doing, and which ones are more likely to be about what men thought they were doing? Did the repertoire of sexual techniques change over time? Was it different indifferent places? What was the range of activities that medieval people considered to be “sex”? How did it differ from modern definitions? This topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here: Benkov, Edith. “The Erased Lesbian: Sodomy and the Legal Tradition in Medieval Europe” in Same Sex Love and Desire Among Women in the Middle Ages. ed. by Francesca Canadé Sautman & Pamela Sheingorn. Palgrave, New York, 2001. Borris, Kenneth (ed). 2004. Same-Sex Desire in the English Renaissance: A Sourcebook of Texts, 1470-1650. Routledge, New York. ISBN 978-1-138-87953-9 Brown, Judith C. 1984. “Lesbian Sexuality in Renaissance Italy: The Case of Sister Benedetta Carlini” in Signs 9 (1984): 751-58. (reprinted in: Freedman, Esteele B., Barbara C. Gelpi, Susan L. Johnson & Kathleen M. Weston. 1985. The Lesbian Issue: Essays from Signs. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN 0-2256-26151-4) Crompton, Louis. 1985. “The Myth of Lesbian Impunity: Capital Laws from 1270 to 1791” in Licata, Salvatore J. & Robert P. Petersen (eds). The Gay Past: A Collection of Historical Essays. Harrington Park Press, New York. ISBN 0-918393-11-6 (Also published as Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 6, numbers 1/2, Fall/Winter 1980.) Lansing, Carol. 2005. “Donna con Donna? A 1295 Inquest into Female Sodomy” in Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History: Sexuality and Culture in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, Third Series vol. II: 109-122. Matter, E. Ann. 1989. “My Sister, My Spouse: Woman-Identified Women in Medieval Christianity” in Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality, eds. Judith Plaskow & Carol P. Christ. Harper & Row, San Francisco. Merrick, Jeffrey & Bryant T. Ragan, Jr. 2001. Homosexuality in Early Modern France: A Documentary Collection. Oxford University Press, New York. ISBN 0-19-510257-6 Mills, Robert. 2015. Seeing Sodomy in the Middle Ages. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN 978-0-226-16912-5 Murray, Jacqueline. 1996. "Twice marginal and twice invisible: Lesbians in the Middle Ages" in Handbook of Medieval Sexuality, ed. Vern L. Bullough and James A. Brundage, Garland Publishing,. pp. 191-222 Puff, Helmut. 2000. "Female Sodomy: The Trial of Katherina Hetzeldorfer (1477)" in Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies: 30:1, 41-61. Schibanoff, Susan. “Hildegard of Bingen and Richardis of Stade: The Discourse of Desire” in Same Sex Love and Desire Among Women in the Middle Ages (ed. by Francesca Canadé Sautman & Pamela Sheingorn), Palgrave, New York, 2001. Traub, Valerie. 2002. The Renaissance of Lesbianism in Early Modern England.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-44885-9 Velasco, Sherry. 2011. Lesbians in Early Modern Spain. Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville. ISBN 978-0-8265-1750-0 A transcript of this podcast is available here. Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/ Twitter: @LesbianMotif Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon Links to Heather Online Website: http://alpennia.com Email: Heather Rose Jones Twitter: @heatherosejones Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Medieval Love Poetry The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 8 with Heather Rose Jones This episode looks at examples of courtly love--both in poetry and in prose--expressed between two women, or by two female characters. In this episode we talk about: The context and conventions of the “courtly love” genre The problems of relating the sentiments expressed in courtly love literature to everyday lives and experiences Scholarly blind spots when interpreting same-sex expressions of courtly love Love, desire, and friendship between women in the 13th century French story L'Escoufle The 13th century troubariz (female troubador) Bieiris de Romans and the love poem she wrote to a woman named Maria A passionate poem of love and longing written by one anonymous 12th century German woman to another Books mentioned The full text of Na Maria by Bieris de Romans can be found in: Bogin, Meg. 1976. The Women Troubadours. Paddington Press, Ltd., New York. ISBN 0-8467-0113-8 The full text of the Tegernsee MS poem can be found in: Matter, E. Ann. 1989. “My Sister, My Spouse: Woman-Identified Women in Medieval Christianity” in Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality, eds. Judith Plaskow & Carol P. Christ. Harper & Row, San Francisco. This topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here: L'Escoufle Na Maria (Bieiris de Romans) Tegernsee ms A transcript of this podcast is available here. Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/ Twitter: @LesbianMotif Discord: Contact Heather for an invitation to the Alpennia/LHMP Discord server The Lesbian Historic Motif Project Patreon Links to Heather Online Website: http://alpennia.com Email: Heather Rose Jones Twitter: @heatherosejones Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

In this episode we are continuing the story of John Smyth and John Robinson's congregations as they escape from England and head to Amsterdam in 1607/1608. This moment is important for a number of reasons, but two particular things stand out: 1) Smyth baptizes his congregation as believing adults (believer's baptism), which was deemed a heresy during Medieval Christianity and 2) Robinson leads a faction of the group to the city of Leiden, where they worship until their decision to travel to America as pilgrims in 1620.  We will be focused mostly on the actions of Smyth, as he is credited with forming the first Baptist church in Holland in 1609 – though not necessarily prototypical. Other subjects discussed in the episode are the “Radical Reformation” and the differences between paedobaptism (infant baptism) and credobaptism (believer's baptism). Lastly, we end with Smyth's defection to join the Mennonites and Helwys' courageous move to return to England and fight for religious liberty in his homeland. Full transcript with footnotes and citations can be found at:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MulUMKxDU33tTe3W7jC1IeBJaekezJlu/view?usp=sharing Find me on Instagram -  @thebaptistheritage Or email me at - ryanhoffer@hotmail.com

Today’s Church is in great need of reimagining the nature of theological education; a reassessment of its purpose, not as merely the pursuit of a degree, but as education in the classical sense of formation. This view of education, measured by our understanding of the questions we should be asking rather than our grasp of what the answers are, will invariably influence the role that classic texts of the Christian Tradition have in the context of that educational formation. Our interest in Lombard’s Sentences, therefore, goes well beyond the content and context of that work as an important and formative publication. Rather, it touches deeply on a matter of great overarching importance for Greystone and the Church in our day. That is, the nature and goal of a properly understood theological education. In particular, how might Lombard’s famous Sentences help us in the pursuit of reimagining theological education?To discuss this and more, Dr. Mark A. Garcia, President and Fellow in Scripture and Theology at Greystone Theological Institute, sits down with Dr. Atria Larson, Greystone's Academic Dean, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Fellow in Medieval Church History and Canon Law. Dr. Larson is Associate Professor of Medieval Christianity in the Theology Department at Saint Louis University, and winner of the 2015 Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise from the University of Heidelberg, and author of many studies in penitential theory and canon law, including Master of Penance: Gratian and the Development of Penitential Thought and Law in the Twelfth Century (Washington DC: CUA Press, 2014).Dr. Larson’s directed reading course module on Lombard’s Sentences will be available this fall for credit, and her multiple lectures, including those on Penance in the Patristic, Medieval, and Reformation Church, are available now for all Greystone Members. Become a member today for unlimited access to the growing Greystone Connect library.

Rabbi Aryeh Klapper is Dean of the Center for Modern Torah Leadership, Rosh Beit Midrash of its Summer Beit Midrash Program and a member of the Boston Beit Din.Rabbi Klapper is a widely published author in prestigious Hebrew and English journals. He is frequently consulted on issues of Jewish law from representatives of all streams of Judaism and responds from an explicit and uncompromised Orthodox stance.In a striking exhaustive lecture given in August 2006 at Congregation Shaarei Tefillah in Newton, MA Rabbi Klapper dissects the salient texts where Rav Menachem Meiri espouses a novel tolerance and appreciation of Medieval Christianity.He weighs the possibilities of using this minority opinion as the basis for modern legal decisions.Over the almost two hour presentation,Klapper explains how he believes Moshe Halbertal has erred in tracing the source for the Meiri's statements as his philosophical orientation drawn from the Maimonidean philosophic tradition.Rabbi Klapper also brings to the forefront other modern Rabbinic champions of tolerance who reshaped the concept of aivah and Darchei Shalom in ways that can indeed govern our attitude and upgrade our behavior,and call for a halachic shift in relation to the majority world religions of today.The Yeshiva of Newark @IDT is proud to partner with Rabbi Klapper to help spread his scholarly thoughtful ideas and Halachic insight to as wide an audience as possible .Please visithttp://www.torahleadership.org/for many more articles and audio classes from Rav Klapper and to find out about his Summer programs as well as Rabbi Klapper's own podcast sitehttps://anchor.fm/aryeh-klapper.Please leave us a review or email us at ravkiv@gmail.comFor more information on this podcast visityeshivaofnewark.jewishpodcasts.org See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This podcast is powered by JewishPodcasts.org. Start your own podcast today and share your content with the world. Click jewishpodcasts.fm/signup to get started.

Rabbi Aryeh Klapper is Dean of the Center for Modern Torah Leadership, Rosh Beit Midrash of its Summer Beit Midrash Program and a member of the Boston Beit Din.Rabbi Klapper is a widely published author in prestigious Hebrew and English journals. He is frequently consulted on issues of Jewish law from representatives of all streams of Judaism and responds from an explicit and uncompromised Orthodox stance. In a striking exhaustive lecture given in August 2006 at Congregation Shaarei Tefillah in Newton, MA Rabbi Klapper dissects the salient texts where Rav Menachem Meiri espouses a novel tolerance and appreciation of Medieval Christianity.He weighs the possibilities of using this minority opinion as the basis for modern legal decisions.Over the almost two hour presentation,Klapper explains how he believes Moshe Halbertal has erred in tracing the source for the Meiri's statements as his philosophical orientation drawn from the Maimonidean philosophic tradition.Rabbi Klapper also brings to the forefront other modern Rabbinic champions of tolerance who reshaped the concept of aivah and Darchei Shalom in ways that can indeed govern our attitude and upgrade our behavior,and call for a halachic shift in relation to the majority world religions of today.The Yeshiva of Newark @IDT is proud to partner with Rabbi Klapper to help spread his scholarly thoughtful ideas and Halachic insight to as wide an audience as possible .Please visithttp://www.torahleadership.org/for many more articles and audio classes from Rav Klapper and to find out about his Summer programs as well as Rabbi Klapper's own podcast site https://anchor.fm/aryeh-klapper.Please leave us a review or email us at ravkiv@gmail.comFor more information on this podcast visityeshivaofnewark.jewishpodcasts.org See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Medieval Christianity: The New Order: The Germanic Kingdoms, Part 1 (History of Christianity #174) by Daniel Whyte III

Medieval Love Poetry The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast - Episode 39b with Heather Rose Jones This is a reprise of LHMPodcast episode 8 which originally aired on 2017/03/25. This episode looks at examples of courtly love--both in poetry and in prose-- expressed between two women, or by two female characters. The context and conventions of the “courtly love” genre The problems of relating the sentiments expressed in courtly love literature to everyday lives and experiences Scholarly blind spots when interpreting same-sex expressions of courtly love Love, desire, and friendship between women in the 13th century French story L’Escoufle The 13th century troubariz (female troubador) Bieiris de Romans and the love poem she wrote to a woman named Maria A passionate poem of love and longing written by one anonymous 12th century German woman to another Sources The full text of Na Maria by Bieris de Romans can be found in: Bogin, Meg. 1976. The Women Troubadours. Paddington Press, Ltd., New York. ISBN 0- 8467-0113-8 The full text of the Tegernsee MS poem can be found in: Matter, E. Ann. 1989. “My Sister, My Spouse: Woman-Identified Women in Medieval Christianity” in Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality, eds. Judith Plaskow & Carol P. Christ. Harper & Row, San Francisco. This topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here: L’Escoufle Bieiris de Romans Tegernsee ms A transcript of this podcast is available here. Links to the Lesbian Historic Motif Project Online Website: http://alpennia.com/lhmp Blog: http://alpennia.com/blog RSS: http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/ Links to Heather Online Website: http://alpennia.com Email: Heather Rose Jones Twitter: @heatherosejones Facebook: Heather Rose Jones (author page)

Excerpts from G.K. Chesterton's biography "Saint Francis of Assisi" tell the story of the collapse of Francesco Bernardone's military ambitions and the birth of new dreams.0:00 Early encounter with a beggar6:34 Prisoner of war11:06 Sickness hits12:00 The Church at this time in history14:30 A vision "splendid with swords"16:27 Francis confronts his biggest fear18:26 Francis the Builder19:52 On the connection between possessions and weapons25:04 Conversion, not conquest34:20 St. Francis meets St. Dominic37:04 "Patron Saint of Stowaways"38:24 Francis meets the SultanFind us at: www.catholicsagainstmilitarism.comFind our podcast/RSS feed: http://www.buzzsprout.com/296171

Verschillende historische publicaties hebben de gevorderde religieuze geletterdheid van leken in de vijftiende eeuw laten zien, die soms zelfs gedeeld werd door de sociale middengroepen en incidenteel door arme mensen. Desondanks blijven historische “memes” over de ongeletterdheid van deze groepen, hun onwetendheid, bijgeloof of zelfs hun weerstand tegen religie verspreid worden in de populaire cultuur en in historische handboeken: “The elite’s greater level of literacy gave them the ability to develop their piety through religious readings”; “For most of the middle ages the great majority of people did not read and write” (The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity 2014). Archivalische en codicologische bronnen uit Parijs, Amiens, Douai en Tournai laten daarentegen een volledig ander beeld zien: er is veel documentatie over leken uit de midden- en lagere klassen die geletterd waren en die een of meer religieuze boeken bezaten. Hun overige bezittingen laten zien dat hun huizen vaak gedecoreerd waren met altaarstukken en andere religieuze kunstvoorwerpen, waardoor het privéhuis een ruimte werd waar het heilige aanwezig was, in ieder geval visueel. Leesactiviteiten in het privéhuis vonden plaats in de directe context van deze kunstvoorwerpen en ongetwijfeld soms in relatie ermee. In de geest van “microstoria” zal de materiële cultuur van een aantal van de religieuze privéhuishoudens uit Noord Frankrijk en de Zuidelijke Nederlanden gepresenteerd worden, samen met een aantal voorbeelden van bewaard gebleven boeken die ooit in het bezit waren van gewone stadsbewoners en die door hen gelezen werden. Deze historische documentatie zal het uitgangspunt zijn voor een diepere analyse: Een sociaalhistorische benadering zal de sociale spreiding van religieuze leesactiviteiten in kaart brengen, alsmede de groepen van lezers die gerelateerd waren aan de boeken in privébezit. Een ruimtelijke analyse, gebaseerd op de plaatsen waar boeken aanwezig waren in het privéhuis, zal het dooreenlopen van productiewerk, handel, dagelijks leven en religieuze leesactiviteiten laten zien. Daarnaast zal het privéhuishouden besproken worden als een ruimte met een specifieke betekenis die gegenereerd werd door de aanwezigheid van religieuze objecten en de leesactiviteiten die er plaats vonden. Margriet Hoogvliet is postdoctoraal onderzoeker in het door NWO gefinancieerde project “Cities of Readers: Religious Literacies in the Long Fifteenth Century”, uitgevoerd aan de Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. In het jaar 2019-2020 zal zij verbonden zijn aan het Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance (CNRS) in Tours met een Smart Loire Valley Fellowship. Miraeus Lecture op 15 mei 2019 in de Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience. Meer over de Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience? Website – www.consciencebibliotheek.be Facebook – www.facebook.com/consciencebibliotheek Twitter – www.twitter.com/ehcantwerp

On this episode Gerhard Stübben talks about his area of research: what medieval and early modern Christians said about Islam.

On this episode Gerhard Stübben talks about his area of research: what medieval and early modern Christians said about Islam.

Original Air Date: 01/24/2001 See the entire series here.

Original Air Date: 01/24/2001 See the entire series here.

Pr. Shannon teaches on our Christian heritage. Outline: Pope Gregory the Great Conversion of Pagan Europe Charlemagne The Investiture Controversy Saint Athanasius Church: https://www.saintathanasiusfc.com/ Contra Mundum Swagger book: https://www.amazon.com/Contra-Mundum-Swagger-Following-Divorce/dp/0692838961

"The Muddy Middle," session 4 of Ronnie McBrayer's "Christian History 101," is a deep dive into Medieval Christianity in Europe.

Professor Rabia Gregory's primary research interest is the history of Christianity in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. She approaches the study of religion through book history, material culture, and theories of gender. Her first book, Marrying Jesus in Medieval and Early Modern Northern Europe: Popular Culture and Religious Reform, published by Ashgate, uses previously unpublished cultural artifacts to revise long-standing assumptions about religion, gender, and popular culture. In the book, she demonstrates that by the fourteenth century, worldly, sexually active brides of Christ, both male and female, were no longer aberrations and provide a history of the dispersion of theology about the bride of Christ in the period between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries and explains how this metaphor, initially devised for a religious elite, became integral to the laity's pursuit of salvation. Follow her on Twitter @RabiaGregory

What Medieval Lesbians Did in Bed  This episode looks at the historic evidence for the specific sexual techniques enjoyed between women in the middle ages and Renaissance. Caution: although this essay isn’t intended as erotica, it does include a lot of detailed technical descriptions of bodies, sex acts, and sex toys. The content is very definitely Not Safe For Work.  In this episode we talk about  What are the sources of historic evidence for this question?  Which sources can we trust for what women were actually doing, and which ones are more likely to be about what men thought they were doing?  Did the repertoire of sexual techniques change over time? Was it different indifferent places?  What was the range of activities that medieval people considered to be “sex”? How did it differ from modern definitions?  More info  The Lesbian Historic Motif Project lives at: http://alpennia.com/lhmp  You can follow the blog on my website (http://alpennia.com/blog) or subscribe to the RSS feed (http://alpennia.com/blog/feed/)  This major sources used for this podcast are discussed in more detail at the Lesbian Historic Motif Project:  Benkov, Edith. “The Erased Lesbian: Sodomy and the Legal Tradition in Medieval Europe” in Same Sex Love and Desire Among Women in the Middle Ages. ed. by Francesca Canadé Sautman & Pamela Sheingorn. Palgrave, New York, 2001. (http://alpennia.com/lhmp/lesbian-historic-motif-project-22-benkov-2001-erased-lesbian-sodomy-and-legal-tradition)  Borris, Kenneth (ed). 2004. Same-Sex Desire in the English Renaissance: A Sourcebook of Texts, 1470-1650. Routledge, New York. ISBN 978-1-138-87953-9 (http://alpennia.com/lhmp/publication/4356)  Brown, Judith C. 1984. “Lesbian Sexuality in Renaissance Italy: The Case of Sister Benedetta Carlini” in Signs 9 (1984): 751-58. (reprinted in: Freedman, Esteele B., Barbara C. Gelpi, Susan L. Johnson & Kathleen M. Weston. 1985. The Lesbian Issue: Essays from Signs. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN 0-2256-26151-4) (http://alpennia.com/lhmp/lhmp-115-brown-1984-lesbian-sexuality-renaissance-italy-case-sister-benedetta-carlini)  Crompton, Louis. 1985. “The Myth of Lesbian Impunity: Capital Laws from 1270 to 1791” in Licata, Salvatore J. & Robert P. Petersen (eds). The Gay Past: A Collection of Historical Essays. Harrington Park Press, New York. ISBN 0-918393-11-6 (Also published as Journal of Homosexuality, Vol. 6, numbers 1/2, Fall/Winter 1980.) (http://alpennia.com/lhmp/lhmp-129-crompton-1985-myth-lesbian-impunity-capital-laws-1270-1791)  Lansing, Carol. 2005. “Donna con Donna? A 1295 Inquest into Female Sodomy” in Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History: Sexuality and Culture in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, Third Series vol. II: 109-122. (http://alpennia.com/lhmp/lhmp-117-lansing-2005-donna-con-donna-1295-inquest-female-sodomy)  Matter, E. Ann. 1989. “My Sister, My Spouse: Woman-Identified Women in Medieval Christianity” in Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality, eds. Judith Plaskow & Carol P. Christ. Harper & Row, San Francisco. (http://alpennia.com/lhmp/lesbian-historic-motif-project-50-matter-1989-my-sister-my-spouse-woman-identified-women)  Merrick, Jeffrey & Bryant T. Ragan, Jr. 2001. Homosexuality in Early Modern France: A Documentary Collection. Oxford University Press, New York. ISBN 0-19-510257-6 (http://alpennia.com/lhmp/publication/3995)  Mills, Robert. 2015. Seeing Sodomy in the Middle Ages. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. ISBN 978-0-226-16912-5 (http://alpennia.com/lhmp/publication/4795)  Murray, Jacqueline. 1996. "Twice marginal and twice invisible: Lesbians in the Middle Ages" in Handbook of Medieval Sexuality, ed. Vern L. Bullough and James A. Brundage, Garland Publishing,. pp. 191-222 (http://alpennia.com/lhmp/lesbian-historic-motif-project-18-murray-1996-twice-marginal-and-twice-invisible-lesbians)  Puff, Helmut. 2000. "Female Sodomy: The Trial of Katherina Hetzeldorfer (1477)" in Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies: 30:1, 41-61. (http://alpennia.com/lhmp/lesbian-historic-motif-project-2-puff-2000-female-sodomy-trial-katherina-hetzeldorfer-1477)  Schibanoff, Susan. “Hildegard of Bingen and Richardis of Stade: The Discourse of Desire” in Same Sex Love and Desire Among Women in the Middle Ages (ed. by Francesca Canadé Sautman & Pamela Sheingorn), Palgrave, New York, 2001. (http://alpennia.com/lhmp/lesbian-historic-motif-project-20-schibanoff-2001-hildegard-bingen-and-richardis-stade)  Traub, Valerie. 2002. The Renaissance of Lesbianism in Early Modern England.Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-44885-9 (http://alpennia.com/lhmp/publication/4372)  Velasco, Sherry. 2011. Lesbians in Early Modern Spain. Vanderbilt University Press, Nashville. ISBN 978-0-8265-1750-0 (http://alpennia.com/lhmp/publication/4949)  If you have questions or comments about the LHMP or these podcasts, send them to: contact@alpennia.com A transcript of this podcast is available here.

CH01 – Lesson 21: Golden Age of Medieval Christianity

The Lesbian Historic Motif Podcast Episode 8 - Medieval Love Poetry This episode looks at examples of courtly love--both in poetry and in prose--expressed between two women, or by two female characters.   In this episode we talk about The context and conventions of the “courtly love” genre The problems of relating the sentiments expressed in courtly love literature to everyday lives and experiences Scholarly blind spots when interpreting same-sex expressions of courtly love Love, desire, and friendship between women in the 13th century French story L’Escoufle The 13th century troubariz (female troubador) Bieiris de Romans and the love poem she wrote to a woman named Maria A passionate poem of love and longing written by one anonymous 12th century German woman to another   More info The Lesbian Historic Motif Project lives here The full text of Na Maria by Bieris de Romans can be found in: Bogin, Meg. 1976. The Women Troubadours. Paddington Press, Ltd., New York. ISBN 0-8467-0113-8 The full text of the Tegernsee MS poem can be found in: Matter, E. Ann. 1989. “My Sister, My Spouse: Woman-Identified Women in Medieval Christianity” in Weaving the Visions: New Patterns in Feminist Spirituality, eds. Judith Plaskow & Carol P. Christ. Harper & Row, San Francisco. You may be able to read the relevant pages of these works through Google Books. This podcast topic is discussed in one or more entries of the Lesbian Historic Motif Project here: http://alpennia.com/lhmp/lhmp-event-person/l’escoufle http://alpennia.com/lhmp/lhmp-event-person/na-maria-bieiris-de-romans http://alpennia.com/lhmp/lhmp-event-person/tegernsee-ms If you have questions or comments about the LHMP or these podcasts, send them to contact@alpennia.com Or ask me on the Lesbian Talk Show Chat Group on facebook

In Part III of Chapter 12, Rob and Chris learn about Medieval Christianity. There is a divide between the western and eastern Christians that mostly happened because of food. In the west, the development of the papacy leads to some shady dealings between the church and it's clergy. Facing some hardships in Rome, the Catholic Church takes a short holiday to France where they definitely had lots of weird, kinky sex. At one point the church had 3 Popes, which wasn't awkward at all. After years of being mobbed up, the people finally revolt against the Church in what's known as the Protestant Reformation. TLDR: Ride the lion!

Blood. It is more than a thing and more than a metaphor. It is an effective concept, an element, with which, and through which, Christianity becomes what it is. Western Christianity – if there is such a thing as “Christianity” singular – embodies a deep hemophilia (a love of blood) and even a hematology (a theology of blood) that divides Christianity from itself: theology from medicine, finance from politics, religion from race, among many other permutations. This is the claim of Gil Anidjar, Professor in the Departments of Religion and Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. His recent book, Blood: A Critique of Christianity (Columbia University Press, 2014) is a wide-ranging, challenging monograph that is both searing and poetic, taking the reader on a journey through biblical texts, medieval controversies, and contemporary critical theory. It asks what Anidjar calls “the Christian Question” in order to destabilize taken for granted assumptions about the naturalness of certain categories related to blood and contextualize them instead within the particular history of post-Medieval Christianity.

Blood. It is more than a thing and more than a metaphor. It is an effective concept, an element, with which, and through which, Christianity becomes what it is. Western Christianity – if there is such a thing as “Christianity” singular – embodies a deep hemophilia (a love of blood) and even a hematology (a theology of blood) that divides Christianity from itself: theology from medicine, finance from politics, religion from race, among many other permutations. This is the claim of Gil Anidjar, Professor in the Departments of Religion and Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. His recent book, Blood: A Critique of Christianity (Columbia University Press, 2014) is a wide-ranging, challenging monograph that is both searing and poetic, taking the reader on a journey through biblical texts, medieval controversies, and contemporary critical theory. It asks what Anidjar calls “the Christian Question” in order to destabilize taken for granted assumptions about the naturalness of certain categories related to blood and contextualize them instead within the particular history of post-Medieval Christianity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blood. It is more than a thing and more than a metaphor. It is an effective concept, an element, with which, and through which, Christianity becomes what it is. Western Christianity – if there is such a thing as “Christianity” singular – embodies a deep hemophilia (a love of blood) and even a hematology (a theology of blood) that divides Christianity from itself: theology from medicine, finance from politics, religion from race, among many other permutations. This is the claim of Gil Anidjar, Professor in the Departments of Religion and Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. His recent book, Blood: A Critique of Christianity (Columbia University Press, 2014) is a wide-ranging, challenging monograph that is both searing and poetic, taking the reader on a journey through biblical texts, medieval controversies, and contemporary critical theory. It asks what Anidjar calls “the Christian Question” in order to destabilize taken for granted assumptions about the naturalness of certain categories related to blood and contextualize them instead within the particular history of post-Medieval Christianity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blood. It is more than a thing and more than a metaphor. It is an effective concept, an element, with which, and through which, Christianity becomes what it is. Western Christianity – if there is such a thing as “Christianity” singular – embodies a deep hemophilia (a love of blood) and even a hematology (a theology of blood) that divides Christianity from itself: theology from medicine, finance from politics, religion from race, among many other permutations. This is the claim of Gil Anidjar, Professor in the Departments of Religion and Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. His recent book, Blood: A Critique of Christianity (Columbia University Press, 2014) is a wide-ranging, challenging monograph that is both searing and poetic, taking the reader on a journey through biblical texts, medieval controversies, and contemporary critical theory. It asks what Anidjar calls “the Christian Question” in order to destabilize taken for granted assumptions about the naturalness of certain categories related to blood and contextualize them instead within the particular history of post-Medieval Christianity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Blood. It is more than a thing and more than a metaphor. It is an effective concept, an element, with which, and through which, Christianity becomes what it is. Western Christianity – if there is such a thing as “Christianity” singular – embodies a deep hemophilia (a love of blood) and even a hematology (a theology of blood) that divides Christianity from itself: theology from medicine, finance from politics, religion from race, among many other permutations. This is the claim of Gil Anidjar, Professor in the Departments of Religion and Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University. His recent book, Blood: A Critique of Christianity (Columbia University Press, 2014) is a wide-ranging, challenging monograph that is both searing and poetic, taking the reader on a journey through biblical texts, medieval controversies, and contemporary critical theory. It asks what Anidjar calls “the Christian Question” in order to destabilize taken for granted assumptions about the naturalness of certain categories related to blood and contextualize them instead within the particular history of post-Medieval Christianity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Monika Winiarczyk: 'Homo Signorum': Looking to God or Looking to the Stars? The Role of Astrology in Medieval Christianity

A Chicago-area native, Professor Halverson teaches courses on Medieval Europe, the Reformation, the History of Christianity, and World History. His research interests coincide with and compliment his teaching, having published books on Medieval Christianity and World History. Before coming to Judson, he taught at the University of Iowa and Coe College in Cedar Rapids. He also serves as a consultant for Pearson Higher Education Publishing and the Educational Testing Service.

A Chicago-area native, Professor Halverson teaches courses on Medieval Europe, the Reformation, the History of Christianity, and World History. His research interests coincide with and compliment his teaching, having published books on Medieval Christianity and World History. Before coming to Judson, he taught at the University of Iowa and Coe College in Cedar Rapids. He also serves as a consultant for Pearson Higher Education Publishing and the Educational Testing Service.

Taken as a whole, leaders demonstrate a wide array of skills and talent. While great leaders often exhibit some consistent marks, there's simply no set script they follow. No inventory of essential traits all must possess to excel. Indeed, some great leaders demonstrate contradictory traits from each other. One is gregarious, another reserved. Once is upbeat and energetic, another taciturn and subdued.Many of the Church's great leaders have been brilliant, their intelligence ranking them as a genius. Others, while being astute, could not be given that lofty epithet. Some had skills that enabled them to accomplish so much, their influence was felt for decades, even centuries, after. Pope Gregory I was of that category. Bruce Shelly says Gregory combined great executive ability with a warm sympathy for the needs of others. Gregory was such a good leader and man, history has given him the title “Gregory the Great.” His tenure as Pope laid the foundations for Medieval Christianity. Since religion played such a central role in European society, Gregory was one of the main architects of Medieval Europe.Born in 540 to a well-established Roman senatorial family, Gregory was groomed from a young age for civil service. But a career in politics at that time was an inordinately difficult proposition. The City of Rome and the lands it had once held hegemony over in the Italian peninsula were like a torn-up soccer ball kicked back and forth by one group after another.  The Visigoths were replaced by the Byzantines, who were booted by the Lombards, who did their best to leave Italy a smoldering wreck.As Gregory's father had been Prefect of Rome & Gregory had trained for govt service, the Eastern Emperor Justin II appointed Gregory to replace the prefect when he retired. He was 33. In all likelihood, it was Justin's wife Sophia who made the appointment, since the Emperor had gone insane and she was ruling in his place. Not long after Gregory took the office, the Byzantine governor of the region and the reigning Pope, died.Like many young men who train for a position because it's expected of them, Gregory found that worldly power didn't appeal to him in the least. He much preferred the solitude of the monastery. So after a few years as prefect, he resigned. When his father passed, leaving Gregory as the heir to a wealthy estate, he used a good part of his fortune to found 7 monasteries, gave the rest to the poor, and turned his mansion into yet another monastery dedicated to St. Andrew; following the Benedictine order. Eschewing all trappings of worldly power that had attended his rank as prefect, Gregory devoted himself to a rigorous asceticism; his diet consisted solely in raw vegetables & fruit. He wore a hair-shirt, prayed most of the night, and applied himself to a diligent observance of his monastic duties. His asceticism was so extreme, it began to weaken his physical frame.Then, in 579, at the age of 39, Pope Pelagius II made Gregory a deacon in the Roman church. This was a position of tremendous influence because the 7 deacons were commissioned with administrative oversight of the Roman Church. Gregory was sent as a papal ambassador to Constantinople, which of course at that time was the new center of what was left of the Roman Empire.He returned to Rome 6 years later and was appointed as abbot over the St. Andrew monastery. Gregory was more than content to serve out what was left of his life in that role. But wider events hijacked his plans.Early in 590, Rome, already hammered by war and flood, found itself in the teeth of a new pestilence; the Black Death, Plague.  Rome's streets emptied as the carts piled higher with the dead. Even Pope Pelagius succumbed.The papal chair remained empty for half a year. Then, Gregory was elected as the new Pope. Instead of rejoicing in his selection, he fled, taking refuge in a nearby forest. Trackers were sent to find him and haul him back. Reluctantly, he allowed himself to be consecrated in the Fall of 590 with Constantinople's approval.Gregory immediately called for several processions over the next 3 days to demonstrate the City's repentance and make a plea for divine intervention. Not long after, the plague seemed to make a reversal. Slowly but surely, life made halting strides of returning to normal. But no sooner did hope rekindle than it was once again squashed under the hooves of the Lombard's who ransacked Italy and laid siege to Rome.The Lombards shattered what little was left of the old Roman order. By the time they rode away, the only institution still standing was The Church. All civil govt had been swept off the board, while the Church was still lead by an organization staffed with capable men. Gregory threw himself into the task of restoring order and providing for the needs of people wherever that order was needed.The power & influence of the Medieval Papacy is in large part due to Gregory's prolific work during this period of recovery. He was literally, everywhere, doing everything. By everywhere, I don't mean geographically; I'm referring to the fields into which he stepped. Though never aspiring for the position of Pope, when once there, he USED the position to bring order out of the chaos of the previous years. He took a lead in civil affairs; a hand in economic & military matters.As the Lombards moved on Rome, Gregory had to address the defense of central Italy. He appointed a military governor, and arranged a truce. This positioned the Pope as the most important Italian representative to the Lombards. It also inserted the Church squarely into Italy's political fortunes. That influence would only grow from that point forward, spreading till it touched most of Europe during the Middle Ages. Beginning with Gregory, the pope became an important political figure.The Church of Rome owned some 1800 sq miles of land in southern Italy. The administration of all this property had been simple when it was productive. But after the devastation left by the Lombards, the survivors were left without a means of support. The survival of thousands in whole cities and communities became the responsibility of Pope Gregory. A task he managed to pull off with aplomb.He engaged the role of being a leader & inspiration to church leaders everywhere. He wrote a manual on church leadership called the Pastoral Rule – exhorting bishops to be a good example of the truths they taught.The amount of work he accomplished is all the more remarkable when we're confronted with his age and health. His previous and concurrent asceticism saw him often confined to bed. In 601 he wrote a friend, “For a long time, I have been unable to rise from my bed. I am tormented by the pains of gout; a kind of fire seems to pervade my whole body: to live is pain; and I look forward to death as the only remedy.” But Gregory kept such comments limited only to a few close confidants.It was also during Gregory's term that the power & centrality of the Roman Papacy took another leap forward. This began in earnest with Leo the Great 150 yrs before Gregory's time. Gregory moved the ball further down the field. It all took place in a skirmish with the Eastern Patriarch, John IV.The Patriarch of Constantinople liked to refer to himself as the “universal bishop” and often did so in official correspondence. The title had been fixed to the Patriarchate by the Eastern Emperors Leo and Justinian, and confirmed in the Synod of Constantinople in 588.This irritated Gregory to no end. He condemned such approbations as the sinister outworking of a demonically-inspired pride. Gregory urged the Emperor to revoke such titles and refused further communiques with John till he renounce such exalted terms.Historians have debated whether Gregory was provoked by the lack of humility such titles evinced, or that it was only the Roman Pope who deserved them. The jury's still out on the matter. It is true that there was a centuries long contest between Popes and Patriarchs over who was the rightful leader of the Christian Church & Faith. That debate led to the eventual E/W Rift manifest today in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.The fact that Gregory preferred to be known simply as “the servant of the servants of God,” does suggest he simply rejected lofty titles, rather than John's sole claim to them. When he was once addressed as “universal pope,” he quickly and vehemently denied the approbation, saying: “I've said that neither to me nor to any one else ought you to write anything of the kind. Away with words which inflate pride and wound charity!”Gregory's favored title ended up becoming a standard title for subsequent Popes. Though it seems rather forced when the man it's attributed to stands decked out in his complete papal regalia; jewel encrusted stole, hat, crozier; the value all of which would buy a whole kingdom.It's fascinating that while eschewing lofty titles, Gregory expanded the power of the Pope to the extent he did. So influential did the Popes become that they began to take on ever more elevated labels.Gregory was the first Pope to have been a monk. Moving from the monastery to basilica in no way changed his habit of personal austerity. He moved many fellow monks he knew ot be men of marked integrity into leadership positions.Earlier in Gregory's life, he'd desired to replant the Roman Church in England as a missionary monk. Once he became Pope, he sent 40 brother Benedictine monks under the leadership of Augustine to accomplish the task. They did so, at Kent. It's that work that provides the British-American Church with its connection back to the early church.A few moments ago I said Gregory may not have possessed the intellectual chops as some other church leaders. His talent lay far more in his administrative abilities. But that's not to say Gregory was a theological slouch. Far from it. He took quite seriously his call to defend the faith. He looked to Jerome, Augustine and Ambrose as His primary theological influences. Though Gregory devised no new theological formulas, he played the role of amalgamator.  He took the common faith of the day as expressed by the councils and creeds, & expanded it to incorporate some of the more popular beliefs, practices, even superstitions of the common people. This then became the Christianity of Medieval Europe.Gregory said The Fall affected all Adam's descendants; it weakened but did not utterly destroy their moral and spiritual freedom. Once someone is moved by grace, she/he can cooperate with it to perform genuine good works.Gregory said through baptism, God forgives sin previously committed. But sins committed after baptism have to be atoned for by doing penance, which includes sincere repentance, confession, and doing good works. BUT, the believer could not know if she/he had done enough penance for sin until they arrived in heaven.In that needed atonement for sin, people had the potential help of the martyrs & saints, who could be invoked to plead for them with Christ. This belief arose long before Gregory, but he popularized and made it a central feature of medieval church practice. Gregory cast Jesus as a stern judge, the angels arrayed around Him as agents of divine retribution, while the saints, by virtue of their humanity, were more inclined to assist poor mortals.Gregory also encouraged the veneration of relics; the supposed remains of saints. Things like locks of hair, teeth, fingernails, clothing. All these were deemed to possess special power & efficacy to provide protection.If proper penance wasn't provided before death, then sins could always be expunged in Purgatory after death, Gregory claimed.Gregory regarded the Mass as the supreme miracle of the Faith. In which the bread and wine were turned into the literal body and blood of Christ. Feeding on them imparted grace directly to the soul & nourished the streams of eternal life. The power of the Eucharist lies in its being understood as a present atoning sacrifice. The priest offers it for sins; not the sins of all people as Christ did at the Cross, but only for those who participate in the Mass. It has the same effect as penance, offsetting a certain amount of suffering generic penance would require. So, Masses could benefit the dead suffering in Purgatory since it would lessen their debt.Gregory, along with the earlier Popes Celestine I & Sixtus III, was one of the first church leaders to organize the Roman liturgy and its music. He established a center for the learning & singing of plainsong in Rome called the Schola Cantorum. Plainsong, or chant, as it's more commonly called, was already in use since the time of Celestine I. Gregory's work in finalizing the style of plainsong has been memorialized in the phrase Gregorian chant. But recent research has cast doubt on Gregory's contribution to the tradition of plainsong in Church use.

This episode is titled The Mystics and looks at the Mysticism of the Western Church during the Late Middle Ages.Alongside the Scholastics we spent a couple episodes on, was another movement within Medieval Christianity in Europe led by a group known as “The Mystics.”Don't let that title mislead you. They weren't wizards with black, long-sleeved robes and tall pointed hats embellished with moons and stars. Don't picture Gandalf or some old man bent over a dusty tome reciting an incantation. The Mystics weren't magicians. They were Christians who thought a vital part of the Faith had been left behind by the academic pursuits of the Scholastics. They aimed to reclaim it.Think of the Medieval Christian mystics this way; if the Scholastics sought to synthesize faith and reason, to give a rational base for the Christian faith, the Mystics wanted such reason to be fervent. If Scholastics emphasized the head, Mystics emphasized the heart. They wanted there to be some heat added to the light the Scholastics shined on the Faith. They added adoration to analysis.The primary message of the Mystics was the call for Christians to maintain a deeply personal and intimate connection to God. For some, that still meant going through the sacraments we looked at in the last episode, but the goal was to experience the divine. This is why they were called Mystics; their movement = Mysticism.  That experience of the divine was inexpressible—indescribable. No formula can be given to obtain it, and once felt, to adequately describe it. It's a mystery, one the mystics thought believers ought to aim for; the essence of the soul's communion with God.The word which best captures the activity of the mystics is devotion.  While the Scholastics looked for evidence of God “out there” the Mystics looked within. Not for some internal divine essence, as the earlier Gnostics had or some later mystics would. Rather, they engaged in an inner quest to discover the presence of the Holy Spirit working to conform them to the image of Christ. Faith wasn't merely an intellectual pursuit. Mystics wanted to FEEL their faith, or better, what their faith was fixed on. They relied more on experience than definitions.There's a common misconception about the medieval mystics that they were all hermits; living in seclusion in some esoteric pursuit of the divine. That's not the case. For the most part, they weren't recluses. They lived in monastic communities.The Mystics drew a good part of their material from the 5th C Church Father Augustine, who also furnished the Scholastics with their core ideas. It was Augustine who said, “You have made us for Yourself O God and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.”While Mysticism and Scholasticism are often set over against each other as separate movements, the truth is, most of the Scholastics show a flavor of the mystical, just as the Mystics often show a surprising element of the rational. The mystical element was strong in the greatest of the Scholastics; Anselm, Thomas Aquinas, and Bonaventure.While Scholastic theology was developed in the cathedral schools and new universities, Mysticism grew up in convents and monasteries. Clair Vaux and St. Victor near Paris were the nurseries of medieval Mysticism. It was in the cloistered halls of monasteries that the passionate hymns of the Middle Ages were composed.The leading Mystics of this period were Bernard of Clair Vaux, Hugo and Richard of St. Victor, Joachim of Fiore.  Hildegard and Elizabeth of Schoenau [Sker-naw] belong in a class by themselves.Bernard is considered one of the first medieval mystics, though he lived well before the flowering of Mysticism in the 13th C. His writings reveal an intimate acquaintance with Scripture.  One historian called him the religious genius of the 12th C, the leader of his age, the greatest preacher Germany ever had. In matters of spiritual contemplation he was a new Augustine.Bernard maintained it was prayer and devotion that led to the knowledge of God rather than doctrinal disputes.  It's the saint rather than the scholar who understands God. Humility and love are the fundamental ethical priorities of theology. In other words, Bernard said, if our learning about God does not bring us nearer His moral makeup, it's a false knowledge.Bernard reformed the community life of convents and monasteries. But he said the cloistered life, with its vigils and fastings, isn't an end in itself; it's but a means to develop the two fundamental Christian virtues of humility and love.Sounding very much like one of our finest Bible teachers today, Bernard said our love grows alongside our apprehension of God's love. He maintained as the soul contemplates the cross it's pierced with the sword of love, as when the Song of Solomon says, “I am sick from love.” Love towards God has its reward, but love loves without regard for reward.Then, moving more into what we might call classic mystical expression Bernard wrote - As the drop of water dropped into wine loses its color and taste, or as iron held in the fire loses its shape and becomes like the flame, or as air illuminated by the light of the sun, becomes itself like the light, even so all feeling in the believer is wholly infused and transmuted by God's will, so that God becomes all and in all.Bernard preached 86 Sermons on the Song of Solomon. Not 8, not 6 – 86! And he only made it to the 1st verse of the 3rd chapter. Every one of them was a mediation on love, both God's prior love and man's reply. While commentaries on the Song of Solomon are rare today, it was a favorite of the Middle Ages precisely because of the influence of the Mystics who used it as the premier text for meditations on God. Everything in it is allegorized.The mysticism of Bernard centers in Christ. It is by contemplation of Him that the soul is filled with knowledge and ecstasy. The goal which the soul aspires to is that Christ may live in us, and our love to God becomes the all-controlling affection.The Abbey of St. Victor in Paris became a center of mystical theology in the 12th C. The two most famous Mystical leaders who worked there were Hugo and his pupil, Richard.  With both men, Mysticism was linked to the work of the Scholastics. With Bernard, mysticism was a highly developed personal experience. With the Victorines, it was brought within the limits of careful definition and became a system. Hugo and Richard centered their activity on the convent, taking no part in the public controversies of the age, where as we've seen in other episodes, Bernard was all over the place in the early 12th C; preaching up the 2nd Crusade, participating in the Great Papal Schism, founding the Knights Templar, and a host of other major events.Hugo, the first of the great German theologians, was born about 1097 in Saxony. In 1115 he went to Paris and became a monk at St. Victor's. He was a friend of Bernard's. Hugo left behind him many writings. He was an independent and fair thinker who influenced contemporary writers by whom he's often quoted. He wrote commentaries on Romans, Ecclesiastes, and other books of the Bible, and a treatise on what would now be called a Biblical Introduction. Going against the standard allegorical slant most Bible study of the time followed, Hugo emphasized the historical sense of the text. But having developed that historical sense, Hugo went on to allegorize the text along mystical lines.Richard of St. Victor was Hugo's student. If Hugo was reserved, Richard was extravagant. We know little of his life other than he was born in Scotland and became prior of St. Victor in the late 12th C.Richard's style was awash in exuberance. His commentaries on the Books of the Bible follow a truly mystical path as he sees all kinds of connections between the Gospel and the stories of the Old Testament. Today we'd call Richard an inveterate Possibility-thinker. In his work titled Emmanuel, a treatise directed to Jews, he praised sin as a happy misdemeanor,—felix culpa,—because it brought about the Incarnation of Christ.  è I guess that's one way to look at it.For all Richard's mystical leanings, he magnifies Scripture and makes it the test of spiritual experiences. This is something modern mystics should take to heart. Everything, Richard said, is to be looked upon with suspicion which does not conform to the letter of Scripture.The leading idea of these two Victorines is that we must believe, love, and sanctify ourselves in order that the soul may reach the ecstasy and composure of contemplation in the knowledge of God. The Scriptures are the supreme guide and the soul by contemplation reaches a spiritual state which the intellect and argumentation could never bring it to.Hildegard was born to noble parents in Germany. From the age of three she experienced visions, which over time revealed to her the nature of God and the universe. At a young age, her parents sent her to be educated at a Benedictine convent where she spent the rest of her life.In 1141, for the first time, she informed others of her visions. They persuaded her to have the revelations she had experienced written down. It was titled Scivias and became a classic of medieval mysticism. The highest authorities in the church, including the Pope, regarded her as a prophetess.Bernard of Clair Vaux was numbered as one of her admirers. They carried on a lifelong correspondence dealing, among other topics, with the need for church reform. Because of her leadership abilities, she eventually became abbess of her convent and in 1148 founded a new convent near Bingen where she remained until her death. Besides her administrative duties, she maintained a wide correspondence and authored books on science, medicine, hymnology, and lives of the saints. She joined other leaders of the church in condemning the heresy of the Cathars but unlike others she opposed sentencing them to death.Caterina Benincasa's birth into a middle-class wool dyer's family caused scarcely a ripple; she was after all, the 23rd of 25 children. Another event that year, a flea full of the bacillus pestis entered the Italian port of Messina and brought a tidal wave of disease called the “Black Death.” In just 3 years, 1348 to 50, more than a third of Europe died. Baby Catherine somehow survived the Plague.As a young girl, she often went to a cave near her home in Siena to meditate, fast, and pray. At 7, she claimed to have seen a vision of Jesus and announced to her parents her determination to live a religious life. Convinced of her devotion, they gave her a small room in the basement of their home that acted as a hermitage. She slept on a board with a log for a pillow. A few years later at the age of 15 her parents thought her period of religious devotion had run its course and that she ought to marry. She cut off her hair to thwart their designs.The path for young women at that time who wanted to devote themselves to the religious life was to enter a convent as a nun. But Catherine didn't want a contemplative life; she wanted to help the poor and sick. Her cousin was a Dominican priest who persuaded her to join the Dominicans as a lay sister. She lived at home, wore distinctive clothes, and directed her activities in sacrificial service to the needy.From 16 to 19, Catherine continued living a secluded life at home and attracted many followers, who were drawn by her feisty personality and exemplary sanctity. She learned to read and became familiar with the Church Fathers; Gregory the Great and Augustine, as well as the popular preachers of the day. At the end of this 3-year seclusion, Catherine experienced what she later described as a “spiritual marriage” to Christ. In a vision, Jesus placed a ring on her finger, and her soul attained mystical union with God.She returned to her ministry to the poor, sick, and imprisoned of Siena. When a wave of the plague struck her hometown in 1374, most people fled, but she and her followers stayed to nurse the ill and bury the dead. She was tireless, working day and night, healing all of whom the physicians despaired.When the crisis ended, she began a letter-writing ministry to convert sinners and reform the Church and society. Like many reformers of the day, she was disturbed by the blatant corruption of Church officials, and believed the source of the problem was the Great Papal Schism. In a series of letters, Catherine exhorted the Pope to address the problems of the church and charged him to return to Rome. She wrote, “Respond to the Holy Spirit who is calling you! I tell you: Come! Come! Come! Don't wait for time because time isn't waiting for you.”A year later, in 1377, after Catherine visited with him in Avignon, Gregory XI finally returned to Rome. It was the great moment of her public life.In her 383 letters and book The Dialogue, Catherine describes her mystical experiences and her all-consuming desire to love God.At the heart of Catherine's teaching was the image of a bleeding Christ, the Redeemer—ablaze with fiery charity, eager sacrifice, and unqualified forgiveness. It wasn't the cross or nails that held Christ to the tree; those were not strong enough to hold the God-Man. It was love that held Him there.Catherine died in Rome at the age of just 33. What a life she lived and example she set.

In this, the 70th Episode of CS , we take a look at Sacramentalism; a mindset that dominated the religious landscape of late Medieval Christianity.The question that consumed Europeans of the Middle Ages was, “How can I be saved? What must I believe and do that will preserve my soul from the torments of hell?”Rome answered that with what's called Sacramentalism.Now, let me be clear; the basic answer was, “Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.” But the Church went on to define what that trust looked like with a set of rules and required practices. Yes, people are saved by grace through faith, but that grace is received by special acts only authorized clergy may conduct. These acts were called “sacraments” from the word “sacred” meaning holy. But there was a specific flavor to the word sacrament that carried the idea of mystery. Precisely HOW the sacraments communicated grace was unknown, while that they did was a certainty. So while salvation was by grace, one had to go to the Church to get that grace. The sacraments were channels of grace and necessary food of the soul. They accompanied human life from the cradle to the grave. An infant was ushered into the world by the sacrament of Baptism while the dying were sent on their way out by the sacrament of Extreme Unction.While all the sacraments were important, the most essential were Baptism and the Eucharist.Baptism was thought to open the door to the Kingdom of Heaven by removing the stain of original sin. But that door to glory was only opened. The baptized needed to follow up their baptism as an infant with later sacraments like Confirmation, Marriage and others. So important was baptism, in an emergency, when an infant appeared to be in distress and a bishop wasn't close enough to perform the rite, the Church allowed the nearest available pious person to baptize.The Lord's Table, Communion, or as it's referred to by some churches, the Eucharist, was the sacrament of grace by which people nourished and nurtured their spirits and progressed in sanctification.Besides these, other rites were called sacraments, but until the time of the Scholastics, there was little agreement as to the proper number. Before the Scholastics, the number of sacraments varied from four to twelve.Bernard of Clairvaux listed ten and including foot-washing and the ordaining or as it was called, “investiture” of bishops and abbots. Abelard named only five. A mystic theologian named Hugo of St. Victor also gave five but went on to suggested thirty possible means by which the Church dispensed special grace. Hugo divided the sacraments into three classes,—First were the sacraments necessary for salvation; Baptism and the Eucharist.Second were those which sanctified the worshipper and made spiritual progress possible. This includes holy water and the use of ashes on Ash Wednesday.A third class prepared the way for the other sacraments.Though Thomas Aquinas listed seven sacraments, he recognized some of the lesser rites as quasi-sacramental in character.The uncertainty concerning the number of the sacraments was a heritage from the Church Fathers. Augustine defined any sacred rite as a sacrament. In 1179, the Third Lateran Council used the term in a wide sense to include the investiture of bishops and burial. The Catholic Church today makes a distinction between certain sacred rites, called sacramentalia, and the seven sacraments. Aquinas gave as the reason for the proper number to be seven—saying that three is the number of Deity, four of creation, and seven represents union of God and man. A rather interesting “reason” for the supreme Scholastic to make since it sounds far more like the work of one of the Mystics.Following the inquisitive nature of the Scholastics however, ingenious and elaborate attempts were made to correlate the seven sacraments to all the areas of mankind's spiritual need. They were understood as undoing the Fall and its effects.Seven corresponds to the seven classic virtues. Bonaventura allegorized the sacraments to a military career. He said the sacraments furnish grace for the spiritual struggle and strengthened the warrior on the various stages of his/her conflict. Baptism equips him on entering the conflict, confirmation encourages him in its progress, extreme unction helps him at the finish, the Eucharist and penance renew his strength, ordination introduces new recruits into the ranks, and marriage prepares men to be recruits. Augustine compared the sacraments to the badges and rank conferred upon a soldier, a comparison Thomas Aquinas adopted from him.By the authority of the well-regarded Peter the Lombard and Thomas Aquinas, seven was chosen as the sacred number. The seven sacraments are Baptism, Confirmation, Penance which includes confession and absolution, Eucharist, Marriage, Ordination, and Extreme Unction; sometimes called Last Rites.Confirmation was closely connected with baptism as a kind of supplement. It was a way for someone who'd been baptized as an infant to personally appropriate the faith of his/her parents by endorsing baptism as their own choice. They “confirmed” their faith in God and His Church. In the Greek Church, Confirmation can be performed by any priest, but in the Latin church, only by a bishop.Penance was deemed necessary for sins committed after Baptism and Confirmation. The penitent confessed his/her sins to a priest, who then prescribed certain acts that were understood to mark genuine repentance, such as praying the rosary or performing some compensatory act that rectified the error. Either upon completion of the penance, or in anticipation of its completion, the priest would announce the confessor absolved of the confessed sins. Being thus morally and spiritual clean the penitent was qualified to partake of the Eucharist.Ordination is the sacrament by which priests are authorized to their office.Marriage lies at the basis of the family and society in Church and State, and the rite of marriage was jealously guarded by the Church against any and all forces that would weaken it. The Church sanctioned marriage and it was to the Church one had to appeal to have a marriage annulled.In the Middle Ages, ordination and marriage were mutually exclusive. Since priests were to be celibate, they were ordained, and since lay people weren't ordained, they were provided the sacrament of marriage. The idea back of both was the sense of divine call and fitting to the role each was to play in the plan of God.Extreme unction was first mentioned as a sacrament in the Synod of Pavia in 850. Originally it was a special prayer for someone gravely ill. It was meant to replace the use of amulets and incantations and could be applied by both laymen and priests. Later, priests alone were permitted to offer it and it was only given to those about to die.The Scholastics taught that the effectiveness of the sacraments were ex opere operato, meaning that their virtue as channels of special grace were inherent in them and independent of the moral character of the priest or recipient. The only requirement was that they be performed in the proper manner with right intent.If this sounds familiar, you may remember the Donatist controversy that so incensed Augustine. The Donatists of North Africa insisted that Baptism and Communion, the only sacraments or ordinances they recognized, were invalid if performed by a derelict priest or unqualified bishop. Augustine upheld the idea that the sacraments carried inherent virtue. His ideas shaped the theological base of Sacramentalism.Thomas Aquinas said the sacrament imparts its virtue without the operation of faith on the part of the recipient. Protestant scholars have often claimed the Scholastics ascribed a magical virtue to the sacraments that was unaffected by the attitude of the recipient. But that's not really their view. Aquinas said it was the activity of God that made the sacrament efficacious, not the rite as divorced from Him. The Scholastics maintained Christ gave the Sacraments to the Church, to give to the people as a way to convey saving and sanctifying grace. Only the duly ordained church hierarchy of Pope, Cardinals, bishops and priests, possess the power to administer the sacraments. Under Sacramentalism, salvation is by Christ alone, but through the mediation of the Church.This is why and how the Medieval Church was able to exert such tight control over the lives of the people of Europe. They were the spiritual gatekeepers of heaven, declaring who was in and who was out.To the mediaeval mind, the sacraments were essential food of the religious life, and, in building up the sacramental system, the mediaeval theologian thought he was strengthening the Church. In the authority to administer them lay the power of the priesthood to open and shut the kingdom of heaven.Duns Scotus, whose opinions were set aside by the Church for those of Thomas Aquinas, insisted that God can confer grace apart from the sacraments, and their efficacy is dependent on the will of the recipient. Scotus said the sacraments acted indirectly. They weren't supernatural vehicles of saving or sanctifying grace. They were symbols used to affect a change of heart and mind in someone so an opening could be made for God's grace.The relation the priest sustains to the sacraments is a vital one, and except in extraordinary cases his administration of the rites is essential. As already said, their effectiveness doesn't depend upon the priest's personal character; it's only important that he perform them according to proper procedure. An immoral priest can confer sacramental grace. To use the mediaeval illustration, pure water may be conveyed through a lead pipe as well as thru a silver. The priest acts in the name of the Church, and in uttering the sacramental formula gives voice to the Christ-ordained authority of the Church. That's enough for bestowing a perfect sacrament.Bonaventura said that in the event of an emergency, when a sacrament was necessary but a priest wasn't available, the ritual could be performed by laymen outside the Church, IF the recipient then re-enacted the rite within the Church as soon as possible.Three of the sacraments; baptism, confirmation, and ordination, were thought to confer an indelible mark on the soul. Once baptized, always baptized. Once confirmed, forever confirmed. Once ordained, permanently ordained. However, in extreme cases, the state these marks ushered one into could be forfeited by becoming an apostate and being excommunicated.While Sacramentalism dominated the theology and practice of the Medieval Church, the Reformers set about to dismantle it. They claimed it was based on a faulty interpretation of Scripture. Martin Luther called Sacramentalism the Church's Babylonish captivity, in which the rights and liberty of believers were fettered by the traditions of men.In our next episode we'll take a look at another theological strain that operated at this time – The Medieval Mystics.As we end, I want to once more thank those who've donated to CS to help defray the cost of maintaining the site and server. Every bit helps.