#medieval theology

[mysticfemme]

I find it ironic that most Christian theology for the last 2000 years has essentially agreed that empirical thought and religious belief go hand in hand, because without one you can't have the other. A lot of 12th/13th century theologians argued that divine revelation is in the natural world and you can't experience that world, that truth, without using your senses.

And then in the last century or so, the birth of postmodern philosophy and The Vienna Circle basically said well fuck that and fuck them kids, religion and empiricism HATE each other they are MORTAL ENEMIES, empiricism is pulling religion's hair on the playground and kicking dirt in its face.

#science is so dumb for thinking it's better and half of that is because of fucking richard dawkins #anyway lol #medieval theology #theology

[improbable-warden]

Alright girlies I have some thoughts about Paul so strap in cause I'm getting theological. 

I just reblogged this post and I stand by my agreement with it - truly OP is right and I sobbed during Paul’s birth because Camiledes is such a deep and unadultered affection of loyalty that it is tragically codependent. And if we are thinking in terms of interhuman relationships (which is not a wrong way of looking at their relationship) then it is indeed twisted and I miss both Cam and Sex Pal so much in a very Normal way. 

But I’d like to bounce off the notion of Greek soulmates that nerdetiquette mentioned and add onto it by thinking about medieval Catholic notions of love (in the sense of caritas not amor) and unity. Paul is, for all intents and purposes, the exemplum of perfect Catholic union in love according to 13th century theology. Allow me to elaborate.

According to 13th century mystical theology (yes, mystics, as in religious people who recieved visions from God and interacted with him in dreams, not unlike Harrow through most of Nona, actually) a person could experience union between the soul and God through love, beyond consciousness. In fact, according to a very popular 12th century mystic (Bernard of Clairvaux), experience (and especially the experience of affection or love) was the means by which this union could be attained - a union which was itself the truest expression and experience of love. But what is this union?

In the 13th century, female mystics - especially Mechthild of Magdeburg - elaborated on it through their own mystical practices. Mechthild wrote extensively about the “annihilation” of the Soul into God: at the moment of union, the Soul would dissolve back into the vast river (her imagery) of the holy divinity. The Soul’s ability to lose itself so completely in the eb and flow of God was contingent on one thing: the Soul’s humility. Humility in this sense means surrendering the Soul’s individual (human) will to the will of God. But, importantly, if the Soul submits her will to God, then God also submits Their will to the Soul. (I apologise, I don’t have the exact reference to this in Mechthild’s text off the top of my head). Essentially, it’s a mutual surrenduring where neither will supercedes the other. This is exactly what Camilla and Palamedes were aiming for when they combined into Paul, because the big problem they were having before their union was that either Camilla or Palaemedes’ soul (whichever was dominant at a given time) was trying to push the other out, to enforce its own will over that of the other. In surrendering to each other, they became One.

But how is this surrendering mutual? How does it work? Well, really seamlessly when the internal theoretical logic insists that the Two are always already One in the Same. Which is exactly the case in both Mechthild’s text and Nona. In book 1.22 of The Flowing Light, Mechthild says, “Tell me, where did our Redeemer become the Bridegroom?” And the Soul answers, “In the jubilus of the Holy Trinity. When God could no longer contain himself, he created the soul and, in his immense love, gave himself to her as her own.” Which, let’s be super honest, sounds like a slightly nicer version of Nona John 1:20: “I wanted... I wanted you. I wanted you like a caveman wants a wildfire. [...] I cupped your soul in my hands. I took you into myself and we became one. I mean, I tried. There was so much of you. [...] But I needed a house to put you in, if I wasn’t going to put all of you in me” (p. 405-408). The Soul is the result of God/Jod’s overflowing desire (love); she already belongs to Them/Him, and They/He always already belonged to her. Mechthild continues, asking, "What are you made of, Soul, that you ascend so high above all creatures, mingle with the Holy Trinity, and yet remain whole in yourself?" And the Soul answers: "You have brought up the question of my origin. I shall tell you honestly: I was made by love in that very place [in the Trinity]. For that reason no creature is able to give comfort to my noble nature or to open it up except love alone." Which, once more, sounds very much like Nona John 1:20: “From my blood and bone and vomit I conjured up a beautiful labyrinth to house you in. [...] I remade us both. I hid me in you... I hid you in me” (p. 409). Again, the Soul is always already a piece of God, a fragment of his eternal and all-encompassing love. If every Soul is God, and God is every Soul, then we are all always already One. Perfect union in love (”one flesh, one end” ; “two in one flesh”) is inevitable and mutual - it is not the annihilation of two different selves into each other, but the realisation of the One perfect self which is the two selves, and which the two selves already were.

Therefore, in this light, we must understand Paul as representative of precisely this kind of perfect mystical love union.

We can take this one step further by considering that 13th century mystics often visualised such union as a marriage between the Soul and God (above, Mechthild calls God “bridegroom”, for example). I could write literally hundreds of pages explaining the implications and nuances of mystical union as marriage (and I have). But suffice it to say that the sanctioning of marraige (and thus of conjugal union) as holy sacrament has a long history in Catholic theology with an eye specifically on the fertility of such unions. If we want to consider “two in one flesh” as a metaphor for heterosexual reproduction, the Church Fathers would absolutely support us on that. What I’m trying to get at here is that not only does Paul represent the perfect example of spiritual union between two perfectly aligned Souls in this theology, but also the perfect example of physical union between two perfectly aligned Souls: that is, offspring. Paul is neither Cam nor Sex Pal, but they resemble something of both of them in their body and in their mannerisms and way of thinking. Much like a child would its parents. 

And this brings me neatly to my final point concerning the name Paul. Biblically, Saint Paul originally persecuted Jews until he was converted on the road to Damascus (I’m not summarising with details) - Sex Pal and Cam originally were very against the whole Lyctorhood concept until they did a whole lot more learning and discovered how to perfect it. They, like Saint Paul, were originally “non -believers” in a way. But more importantly, Saint Paul (who I personally fundamentally despise, truly fuck Saint Paul he’s got some terrible fucking takes) writes in 1 Corinthians 7:2-9 : “But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. I wish that all were as I myself am [celibate]. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another. To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.” While this cannot be called a praise of marriage, Paul very much sanctions marriage and especially highlights (in a shocking moment of not being a huge fucking misogynist) the sense of unity, of oneness, of mutual responsibility between spouses (italicised in the quote). And to the point about it being “better to marry than to burn with passion” this feels very Camiledes, since early Nona it’s established that Palamedes appears to be inclined to write erotica but Cam firmly blocks him from doing so - blocks him from sexual temptation. They belong to each other, and to each other alone. 

What I’m trying to say is that Paul is, in this sense, the truest pinnacle of Catholic love on both a physical and spiritual level. They are the incarnation of perfect consent and aligned will, the very image of the Soul’s perfection and wholeness which can be attained through pure love. It is a tragically co-dependent love insofar as isolated indivituals are prised above spiritual perfection, but from a medieval theological standpoint Paul is nothing short of love’s ideal form. 

#nona the ninth #ntn spoilers #nona the ninth spoilers #ntn #tlt #the locked tomb #paul #camilla hect #palamedes sextus #sex pal #medieval theology #medieval mysticim #catholic theology #i have extensive sources for everything i talk about and will be happy to provide if anyone cares about my niche ramblings #paul nona #camiledes #i don't know what else to tag this

[thelowlystylite]

Investiture Controversy

Without the  Concordat of Worms, where would we be?  Really?

#Medieval Theology #medieval controversies #Investiture

[esteemed-excellency]

ah yes, the Church Cube

#this is how medieval theology works #I'm not building a church btw I'm choosing the freehold #but this is so funny out of context #fallen london

[saintmaudes]

Sacred odors then were notably complex. As in the graves of would-be saints, the smell of sanctity often mingled with the stench of decay and death. Ancient cities, Thurkill wrote, were characterized by “the stench of human excrement, refuse and disease, accompanied with soothing floral scents and perfumes.” Sacred smells like frankincense and myrrh were used over the centuries to demarcate sacred space—but also to disinfect and disguise putrid areas. […]

This gave holy smells a fundamentally paradoxical nature. In a world where breathing foul-smelling air was seen as the cause of many diseases, incense was seen as a barrier against illness, and, with its holy associations, against demonic possession. But equally, powerful scents could be used to disguise a deeper decay, or to tempt the pious with worldly delights and bodies. Even bad smells had an ambiguous quality. After all, the rotting stench of a starved ascetic’s mouth was simply more proof of his profound holiness.

It’s this ambiguity about smell, […] that gives scent its power as a theological tool. In addition to its flexible moral significance, the experience of an odor often reflects our understanding of divinity. Like God, smell can surround you from an indeterminate source, filling spaces with its invisible presence. But unlike sound, which might do the same, to experience a smell it must first be taken within, in an act–breathing–that is both life-giving and volitional.

—John Last, The Centuries-Long Quest for the Scent of God, Noema Magazine

#words #perfume #scent #theology #medieval #john last #noema magazine #article #upl #w #ittar #mmmm #the hits

[zac-yang]

#georges bataille #eroticism: death and sensuality #sensuality #suffering #symbolism #medieval #christianity #catholic core #yonic #divine feminine #theology #st teresa of avila #philosophy #thoughts #meme #twitter #jesus fandom #esoteric

[teenageascetic]

“We seek for truth in ourselves; in our neighbours, and in its essential nature. We find it first in ourselves by severe self scrutiny, then in our neighbours by compassionate indulgence, and, finally, in its essential nature by that direct vision which belongs to the pure in heart. Observe both the number and the sequence. To begin with, let Him who is the Truth teach you that you must search for truth in those around you before you look for it in its intrinsic purity. You will afterwards learn why you must search for it in yourself before you do so in your neighbours. Thus in the enumeration of the Beatitudes in His Sermon He placed 'the merciful' before 'the pure in heart'. For the merciful quickly discover truth in their neighbours when they extend their sympathy to them, and so kindly identify them- selves with them that they feel their good and evil characteristics as if they were their own.”

-St Bernard of Clairvaux, The Twelve Degrees of Humility and of Pride.

#books #history #literature #religion #theology #mysticism #esotericism #religious #orthodox #christian #christianity #catholic #Catholicism #medieval art #art #catholic art #catholic church #st bernard #perennialism #perennialist #perennial philosophy #philosophy #quotes #book quotes

[capricorn-0mnikorn]

The Monsters' Rhapsody

We come from regions at the edge of maps Where details of the landscape are left out. Those who journey there are warned of traps; Our histories are vague, and filled with doubt.

We crouch in corners of cathedral towers, Peering from the ledges high above Jeering at the milky, gilded saints With their songs of torment in the key of ‛love’.

We gather in the margins of the page, Drawn there by those minds too quick for text Cavorting in the space between the lines And looking out beyond the screen of Time At what has gone before, and what comes next With our piercing, wide-eyed, wild, gaze.

Cartographers of power fear us most. Perhaps by accident, or secret pledge, They were the ones who pushed us to the edge. To them, we are the “evil (demon) host.”

To curry favor with their patron lords, They pondered, and they toiled, and they forged A chain of being strung ’tween God and Earth To justify the privilege of their birth. With words of silk, and blood-black ink, They braided ropes to every link To bind each living creature into place Then doled out dwindling portions of God’s grace. But for themselves, they kept the greatest share – In sight of angels in the shining air.

But we – the vast and secret multitude, Who move through narrow spaces in between, Traversing landscapes they have never viewed – We slip through gaps in their great chain.

We are the neithers and the nors – Exceptions to each rule they write: We are the maids with fishy tails, Who sing the doom of sailing ships, And giants, standing miles high, Who scrape their knees on mountain peaks, The gryphon, werewolf, and the king Who’s neither frog, nor yet a man. The mother who can only crawl, As if she were a tiny babe, The boy who reads with fingertips, Poets who shape words with hands, And those who have divergent minds. We are the neithers and the nors – Exceptions to each rule they write.

And whether shy and shifting, or rudely bold, We can’t be collared by their ready names – Their inky, silky, fetters do not hold. They say this is our crime – that we’re to blame.

That we exist at all is proof enough The world is more complex than first it seems They claimed a single truth. And thus, they lied – Their mighty chain was forged from human pride, A false conclusion, and a foolish dream. But we are here. And we can call their bluff.

And even as we wander city streets, Along with all the rushing, bustling crowds, The questions rise in every gaze we meet, And mystery surrounds us, like a cloud.

We span the borders by which this world’s defined – Not on the globe, but rather, in the mind.

#monsters as disability metaphors #my own poetry #Medieval Christian theology #Chain of Being #disability is a social construct #authoritarian hierarchies #disablism #copyright 2016

[spurgie-cousin]

Can't even describe how absolutely feral learning about stuff like this makes me feel (in a good way lol)!!! Fundamentalists will really look you in the eyes and say they care about having the most accurate historical translation of Christian/proto-Christian texts and hold up the KJV as an example, meanwhile theologians/historians will find out some bananas shit like "god had a body and a wife, actually" and they'll call it blasphemous.

Like how do you hear stuff like this as a religious person and not get stoked as hell?? Mrs. God? That doesn't excite you???????

#i will never understand #this one book written by medieval assholes who took baths onece a year is the END ALL BE ALL of our religion and there's nothing else to #learn or know like??????? #it's either a pathological lack of curiosity or a really deep fear that they've been fucking up this whole time #theology #history #religion

[spaceintruderdetector]

Malleus Maleficarum And The Construction Of Witchcraft : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

#medieval studies #theology

[upennmanuscripts]

LJS 397 is a set of student lecture notes for the second level of instruction in astronomy at the university at Wittenberg during Philipp Melanchthon's tenure on the theology faculty there, including discussion of spherical astronomy, atmospheric refraction, conversion of degrees into miles, and the use of astronomical tables. Written in Wittenberg, ca. 1550 (after the publication of Copernicus' De revolutionibus in 1543).

Online:

#medieval #renaissance #wittenberg #astronomy #history of astronomy #history of science #theology #spheres #book history #rare books

[mydudejc]

I am comforted that the idea of wanting to know Christ carnally is like, very heavily an idea that existed

#medieval theology went tf off

[fortes-fortuna-iogurtum]

.

#I THINK THAT I FIGURED IT OUTTT #thanks to a Crossway article that showed up in my email last night and a Credo Magazine article from 2016 #that I read while eating lunch when I probably should've been studying for my earth science exam coming up!!! #'solA scriptura' does not necessarily equal 'solO scriptura'!!! #to quote the article #that's what's been bugging me!!!!! #I also read a couple articles on the need to read and study medieval and patristic theology as well as modern theology #and that made me realize that like. I thought everyone understood that. #a really big part of the last 5-8ish years for me as been digging around in church history poking at augustine and anselm #and all those guys #(though I haven't read any of them in-depth yet; was too busy killing myself in an attempt to save money for college) #so like. I kinda forgot that tons of prots/evangelicals DON'T see that as a given and actually kinda avoid it??? #like apparently a lot of them don't read the church fathers at all and also they basically avoid the creeds #which is bizarre to me bc that's a big thing that grounds me when I feel like I can't see straight (faith-wise) anymore. #the historical context and nature of my faith. #so HM YEAH THINKING ABOUT THIS #also this kinda confirms for me something that I've been really thinking about a lot lately #which is that when we try to understand concepts that come from a historical context #we should like really really really put effort into understanding the historical context that they came out of #not just grabbing the concept and running with it. whether we agree or disagree with the concept itself. #we can learn a lot about studying the ideas within their historical context bc ideas don't just spring into being within a vacuum!!! #and this is important re: the Reformation and the solas especially because those beliefs were meant as a COUNTER to things happening #in the mainline/Catholic church *at the time* #sola scriptura was meant as a COUNTER to holding papal authority over or at least as high as scriptural authority #not to say like 'oh the bible is LITERALLY THE ONLY THING WE SHOULD EVER REFERENCE EVER NO EXCEPTIONS' #history and tradition is important and necessary in all religions! otherwise you just keep doing the same work over and over again #(obviously the fathers weren't right on everything but like. it's silly to avoid them. ya know.) #delete later #gurt complains at college #<< should make that an actual tag for my rants and rambles while i'm here lol :')

[frogshunnedshadows]

Article about St. Patrick's Purgatory then and now, and purgatory in general.

#st patricks day #st patrick's purgatory #christianity #medievalism #theology #ireland #history #pilgrimage #smithsonian magazine #st patrick

[victusinveritas]

Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri illustrated by Moebius

#divine comedy #dante #moebius #illustration #medieval studies #religious art #theology

[gailyinthedark]

The little theological asides about why Mass isn't celebrated on Good Friday and John's statement that no man has seen the Father. I am s w o o n i n g

Three parts of the Eucharist though? Greatly puzzling. Can't mean three parts of the Mass because he just said there is no Mass. Three aspects (communion, sacrifice, real presence) is the best I can come up with but were they even talking about the Eucharist that way prior to Aquinas? Hm.

#history of the holy grail #arthuriana #eucharist #theology #medieval literature