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The Sacred and the Sinister: Studies in Medieval Religion and Magic
Ort / Verlag
Penn State University Press
Erscheinungsjahr
2019
Link zum Volltext
Quelle
Alma/SFX Local Collection
Beschreibungen/Notizen
Inspired by the work of eminent scholar Richard Kieckhefer,
The Sacred and the Sinister explores the ambiguities that
made (and make) medieval religion and magic so difficult to
differentiate. The essays in this collection investigate how the
holy and unholy were distinguished in medieval Europe, where their
characteristics diverged, and the implications of that
deviation.
In the Middle Ages, the natural world was understood as divinely
created and infused with mysterious power. This world was
accessible to human knowledge and susceptible to human manipulation
through three modes of engagement: religion, magic, and science.
How these ways of understanding developed in light of modern
notions of rationality is an important element of ongoing scholarly
conversation. As Kieckhefer has emphasized, ambiguity and
ambivalence characterize medieval understandings of the divine and
demonic powers at work in the world. The ten chapters in this
volume focus on four main aspects of this assertion: the cult of
the saints, contested devotional relationships and practices,
unsettled judgments between magic and religion, and inconclusive
distinctions between magic and science.
Freshly insightful, this study of ambiguity between magic and
religion will be of special interest to scholars in the fields of
medieval studies, religious studies, European history, and the
history of science.
In addition to the editor, the contributors to this volume are
Michael D. Bailey, Kristi Woodward Bain, Maeve B. Callan, Elizabeth
Casteen, Claire Fanger, Sean L. Field, Anne M. Koenig, Katelyn
Mesler, and Sophie Page.