Abstract The paper examines the works and life accomplishments of Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). Hildegard was a notable medieval Christian Abbess and founder of the convent at Rupertsberg. The author discusses her contributions to philosophy, theology and science.
From the Paper "Many of the works of Hildegard stand as examples of primitive attempts to derive a rational explanation for the world in which she lived. She strove to provide a coherent philosophy of the material universe within the context of the Middle Ages. Her life was a time when matters of science, philosophy and theology were thought of as inexorably interdependent. Although her conclusions may appear grotesquely incorrect in comparison to modern standards, we must be careful not to underestimate her intellectual merits. There is great beauty and power to be found within her ecstatic mystical works, despite the absence of any modern scientific foundation."
Abstract This paper takes a look at Francois Rabelais' life and how his upbringing influenced his work. The work examined in this paper is "Gargantua and Pantagruel". Firstly a description of his upbringing in a historical context is provided and then a concise look at the novel. The characters are analyzed and contrasted.
From the paper:
"Because to laugh is proper to the man.? ? Francois Rabelais.
Francois Rabelais was a satirist. Throughout his life, he was bombarded with Christian ideals and ideas, yet his works certainly ridicule many aspects of the Christian faith. Francois Rabelais was born in 1483 at Chinon in Touraine. This date, as well as many other details of his life, is in dispute by scholars all over the world. Some researchers believe that his father was an apothecary while others believe that Rabelais? father was an innkeeper. Francois began his studies with the Benedictines but eventually joined the Franciscans where he stayed fifteen years and received his Holy Orders. He later found the convent was against the studies of the Renaissance that he favoured, so with permission from the Pope, he left it. At his new convent home he continued his study of medicine in 1530. By the following year, he was a professor of anatomy at Lyons as well as head physician at Pont-du-Rhone hospital. During his time as head physician, he fathered a child that died young. In 1534 he began his time with Cardinal du Bellay as a physician. He received an indult from Pope Paul III that allowed him to practice medicine and absolved him from his former infraction of fathering a child while in the priesthood."
From the Paper "Early in the sixth century AD, a young man of the old Roman senatorial nobility found himself face to face with a deep emotional and spiritual crisis. He had been brought up a Christian .. the final triumph of Christianity over paganism was a century or two old by his day .. but for the most part his education and the values he had been imparted by his family and associates were the traditional late.Roman ones. In effect, he had been trained to be a member of the governing class of the Roman Empire.
But the Roman Empire, by his day, no longer existed. He was born in about the year 480.1 Four years earlier, in 476, the last Roman Emperor in the West had been dethroned by a Germanic ..."
A review of the plot, themes, style and the role of fear and laughter in the novel of murder in a 14th centuty Italian Benedictine abbey. Includes suggestions for annotation.
1,125 words (approx. 4.5 pages), 1 source, 1994, $ 39.95
From the Paper "Summary
Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose is set in a Benedictine abbey in Northern Italy in the fourteenth century. This was a time of turmoil, and all over Europe the Church is persecuting members of the Fraticelli, followers of a lapsed Franciscan monk. He was burned at the stake some twenty years before. He had advocated total poverty, a move that is feared because it might undermine the authority of the Church. The Emperor is supporting the Fraticelli precisely in order to undermine the power of the Church.
This is the background. The story is told by Adso, a young acolyte at the monastery. He is to assist the newly arrived Guglielmo da Baskerville, sent to act as mediator between the forces of tolerance and the Pope's inquisitor, who is stopping at..."
Abstract This research examines the phenomenon of teratogens, or factors external to the physical experience of pregnancy, during the period of gestation, which may affect pregnancy outcomes by fostering congenital birth defects in newborns. The research sets forth the clinical context in which teratogenic agents achieve relevance for the course of pregnancy in the modern period and then discusses the impact that concern about teratogens may have on efficient and prudent pregnancy management.
From the Paper "Definitive as this description seems, the overarching fact is that only some 30 teratogens have been identified as having effect on human pregnancy (Thomas, 1998). There is compelling technical and epidemiological evidence that co-morbidity of substance abuse, in the form of use of alcohol and narcotics, and pathological outcomes of pregnancy are real possibilities (Dilulio, Bennet, & Walter, 1996). Kandel and Schaffran (1998) cite research showing "a significant relationship between maternal smoking during pregnancy on the child smoking thirteen years later," suggesting that prenatal exposure to smoking would have the effect of predisposing the child to tolerance of tobacco toxins. Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) has been identified as the single principal teratogen for mental retardation, and it is implicated in neural developmental problems as well (Bagheri, Burd, Martsolf, & Klug, 1998). Although maternal behavior during pregnancy is the proximate cause of FAS, and although any counseling or other intervention would be undertaken with mothers, it is the fetus, then the newborn, and not the mother, who is considered to be afflicted with the disease."
Abstract This paper examines how post modernity is characterized by a rejection of things people thought they were certain about and how in recognizing a paradigm shift many are questioning whether this century has delivered on spirituality. It looks at how the effects of hyper-reality where the expectations of people are not closely related to the real world has meant a greater need to find a spirituality that is rooted in the personal and linked to the secular world.
Outline
Introduction
Spirituality - An Inward Movement?
Living Reality and Personal Experience
For Post Modernity -A Systematic Way of Attending to the Presence of God
Conclusion
From the Paper "If spirituality is intimately connected with life then it could be said to be life breathed into all, as daily routines are followed in a way that generates life even in the mundane happenings (Treston, 1985, p. 90). Diverse groups throughout history have seen the nature of Christian spirituality in different ways. However, the common thread which emerges from a study of a range of spiritualities over time is one of lived experience, how people react, how they connect the everyday with the transcendent, and how they journey through life searching for direction. Evident in Newman, Merton, Day, Benedictine and Ignatian spirituality is life and growth- deeply linked to the spirit."
Tags:benedictine, ignatian, justice, leadership, secular, god
A review of the book "The Monastic Order in England: A History of Its Development from the Times of St. Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council" by David Knowles.
Abstract This paper reviews the David Knowles' book "The Monastic Order in England: A History of Its Development from the Times of St. Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council", about the changing nature of monasticism from 943 to 1216. The paper explains that this book is the first publication of its kind and is therefore a valuable contribution to monastic literature. The paper relates to the book's detailed accounts of the different phases of monastic life in England, including the activities of English monks within their cloisters and their relationship with society. The paper also includes a brief discussion of the book's insight into the historical events that led to this period as well as the tradition that proceeded it. The paper concludes with a review of the positive academic critique of the book.
From the Paper "Before examining Knowles' book in further detail, it is important to define monasticism in a larger historical setting. The Columbia Encyclopedia defines Monasticism as a "form of religious life, usually conducted in a community under a common rule." In Luke 4:1 we read that, "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert." John the Baptist lived an ascetic lifestyle in the wilderness as the word of God came to him in the desert. In conscious imitation of these examples many early Christians withdrew to remote areas. Often this was to escape Roman persecution, but it was also to flee from worldly distractions and seek God. According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, Christian monasticism had its origin in the Egyptian deserts in the third and fourth centuries with the anchorites, who looked for perfection in extreme asceticism. St. Anthony, who is called the father of monasticism, is the best known of these anchorites. Although they had little organization, they regarded the best Christian life as a solitary, ascetic, celibate existence where the world had been totally renounced and replaced with heavenly contemplation. Western forms of monasticism spread with Christianity to Ireland in the sixth century, where monasteries served as the Church's centers. St. Benedict's efforts in the sixth century led to the establishment of the Benedictine monastic order, a more structured and moderate monasticism. The Columbia Encyclopedia credits monasticism with preserving learning and classic thought in Europe."
Abstract Arguably Islam was the most influential of the cultural donors to medieval art and architecture, via Armenia as well as the cultures hugging the Mediterranean, but Islam itself had already influenced other cultures (Byzantine) and been influenced by even earlier ones (pre-Islamic Persia and more). This paper shows, therefore, that any tracing of Islamic influence in medieval European art and architecture must include the incorporated remnants of all the earlier inter-cultural donations. It shows that the two most influential contacts though which the cultural iconographies were spread are, arguably, the Crusades and the Moorish subjugation of Spain.
From the Paper "Of particular importance to medieval life was the abbey and the priory. Particularly important were the Benedictine abbeys. While Benedict was a mid-sixth century cleric, and Islam itself, of course, could not have been influential until at least the start of the seventh century, Benedictine abbeys continued to be built for centuries, reflecting in great degree an Eastern influence. While "the typical plan of Benedictine abbeys and priories evolved out of the Roman country villa of late antiquity"......about 820, a plan for an idea monastery was created (Schuetz-Miller, 2000). It was considered to be the first pattern that took into account the relationship of all the parts to each other and to the whole, assuring geometric harmony; harmony had been a hallmark of Eastern life."
Abstract This paper describes a compline service and the writer's observations of the service after having attended one at the Chapel of the Cross church. The paper describes the start of the service, the first song of the service, and the practice of exiting the church in complete silence after the service has ended. The writer concludes that the visit to the compline service taught him a great deal about early music and worship services.
From the Paper "Before going to the service, I was very intrigued about it because I had never attended a service like this one before. When I first entered the church, the choir was warming up and someone was swinging incense throughout the church. It was very interesting to take in the majestic beauty of the church while everyone was getting ready for the service. Inside, the church was very magnificent and beautiful and I was taken aback by the size and ornate beauty of it all."
Tags:benedictine bedtime silence songs, live performance
Abstract The author of the paper contends that, contrary to the generally held conception, the Middle Ages was not a time when ignorance reigned supreme and logic and reason had no place. By examining and discussing a number of works relating to the Middle Ages, the author further contends that the medieval period had its great scholars and contributors to human thought. The author examines the novel by Umberto Eco, "The Name of the Rose" which, whilst a piece of fiction, when examined alongside scholarly works on the Middle Ages, presents, in the author's opinion, a fair and reasonable portrayal of the "real" Middle Ages.
From the Paper "From the very start of the novel The Name of the Rose Eco decisively shatters stereotypical Monty Python and the Holy Grail beliefs about the medieval era. Upon arriving at the monastery in Melk, William amazes his apprentice, Adso, by deducing what several monks, including the cellarer, Remigio of Varagine, are searching for. "during our whole journey I have been teaching you to recognize the evidence through which the world speaks to us like a great book"(Eco, 23). William of Baskerville is no ignorant man. From this one passage about the Brunellus, the missing horse, which culminates in a lecture to Adso, in which that sentence is the highlight, the reader realizes that William knows how to observe the world and draw logical conclusions. He uses observation, inference and ultimately confidence his own intellectual prowess to deduce the Abbot's most prized horse has gone missing. Furthermore, the reader is also meant to understand that Adso does not represent the ignorance of medieval ages, but rather the ignorance and inexperience of youth. He is, after all, the young apprentice of William. Adso does not have the same life experience or reservoir of knowledge of William. He is Eco's literary tool in which to answer the questions of the reader. Adso often asks exactly what the reader is wondering."
Tags: medieval europe, monks benedictine knowledge enlightenment ignorance aedificium history church papal apocalyptic
