Imagining Heaven in the Middle Ages - A Book of Essays (Hardcover)

Medieval attempts to capture a glimpse of heaven range from the ethereal to the mundane, utilizing media as diverse as maps, cathedrals, songs, treatises, poems, visions and sewer systems. Heaven was at once the goal of the individual Christian life and the end of the cosmic plan. It was, simply stated, perfection. But interpretations varied from the traditional to the dangerously unique as artists and authors, theologians and visionaries struggled to define that perfection. Depending on the source, heaven's attributes vary from height to depth, darkness to light, silence to symphony; the souls within it from activity to passivity, experience to essence, participation to distant admiration. Questions addressed in this anthology include: Are erotic and spiritual love mutually exclusive? Does the soul's happiness depend on the resurrection of the body? What will be the nature of the transfigured body? Will it retain its gender? Will it have senses? Will it know desire? How can desire and fulfillment exist together? Can the human soul ever know God?
Contributors to this volume examine well-known and previously unexplored texts and artefacts from historical and art historical, theological, philosophical, and literary perspectives, to complement and challenge more general surveys of the history of heaven, and above all to illuminate the richness and variety of medieval Christian ideas on heaven.

General

Imprint:	Crc Press
Country of origin:	United States
Series:	Garland Medieval Casebooks
Release date:	February 2000
First published:	2000
Foreword by:	Hugh Feiss
Editors:	Jan S. Emerson
Dimensions:	216 x 138 x 25mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	386
ISBN-13:	978-0-8153-3121-6
Categories:	Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > General > History of religion Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > General > Philosophy of religion > Nature & existence of God Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Christianity > Christian theology > General Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Christian theology > General Books > Religion & Spirituality > General > History of religion Books > Religion & Spirituality > General > Philosophy of religion > Nature & existence of God Books > Christianity > Christian theology
LSN:	0-8153-3121-5
Barcode:	9780815331216

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