For starters, I am so tempted to go on and on about the
article I particularly focused on for my presentation on Monday (Bernardino of
Siena), and how it reminds me of fear mongering Donald Trump, but I will save
my comments for myself, and my opinions on the implication of the preacher’s
words for class on Monday.
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| i had to.... |
What I will focus on is the imagery of these passages we
have been reading. Instinctively, these ideas and theories are laughable: how
could humans think such things? But when I read what these passages are saying,
they feel real (not in the sense that I think magic is real, but in the sense
that I understand where these people are coming from). There is just so much
detail. For example, in article 18, Pop Gregory IX is writing a letter about
seeking out heretics. The modern mind would read this letter and think “how the
hell can this be true,” but it reads so true to him. He dictates the events
that are carried out: a novice is received, “a shape of a certain frog appears
to him, which (BTW) some are accustomed to
call a toad” (115). He continues to say that some kiss this toad on its
mouth, others on its tushy… and I’m just like how can there be so many
variations of this one ceremony if it isn’t true? In the same paragraph, Pope
Greg (can I call you Greg) writes that once the frog (or toad, depending on
which of the numerous ceremonies you are attending and who is in attendance) is
kissed, the body of the novice grows cold and the “memory of the catholic faith
totally disappears from his heart.” This stood out to me because it almost felt like he was there... all of these times...and was able to reference all the different type of people he saw there. Just a theory...
I also thought it was interesting how little they trusted
the faithful. This can go either way for me. On one end, these people are
worried that the faithful may stray because they were once faithful and they
have strayed (they being the preachers, popes, etc) or, on the other end, it is
because they consider the faithful to be weak. Both options are a little bit
sketchy to me. Especially since they consider their warnings of what magic leads to "charitable," as if they know what is to come.
Overall, I think this whole thing from churches and theologians is deceptive and I wish there was like a diary I could read from these guys that exposed them on all their sneakiness... sort of like now, where our leaders emails get hacked and we get to know all the juicy, shitty stuff they did and lied to us about.
The unfaithful are suspicious. The faithful are suspicious. Everyone's suspicious. Everyone's a witch. Everyone weighs the same as a duck. BURN THEM ALL.
ReplyDeleteBut I agree that it's really interesting to think about how well developed these ideas about witches are. You can really tell how ingrained this idea is in the minds of the general population due to just how much it's evolved over time.
That pun is so cringeworthy though.... I'm not sure I'll be able to overcomb the pain.
The Christian fear machine is really revving its engines. If you're not Christian or if you're not completely transparent or witnessed at all times, your actions can be heretical! Careful!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure (read: I hope!) that a lot of these rituals were made up by the clergy to scare their followers into submission. But considering the accuracy of detail from so many sources, it makes you wonder, how many people were actually trying these things? And how many tried these things only after hearing about them from the clergy? Wouldn't you be curious if they described how to heal yourself or hurt enemies? There wasn't much reason to doubt church officials...and if you did, then things would get ugly anyway.