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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > General > Comparative religion
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Sacred Scents in Early Christianity and Islam (Hardcover)
Loot Price: R2,370
Discovery Miles 23 700
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Sacred Scents in Early Christianity and Islam (Hardcover)
Series: Studies in Body and Religion
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
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Medieval scholars and cultural historians have recently turned
their attention to the question of "smells" and what olfactory
sensations reveal about society in general and holiness in
particular. Sacred Scents in Early Christianity and Islam
contributes to that conversation, explaining how early Christians
and Muslims linked the "sweet smell of sanctity" with ideals of the
body and sexuality; created boundaries and sacred space; and
imagined their emerging communal identity. Most importantly,
scent-itself transgressive and difficult to control-signaled
transition and transformation between categories of meaning.
Christian and Islamic authors distinguished their own fragrant
ethical and theological ideals against the stench of oppositional
heresy and moral depravity. Orthodox Christians ridiculed their
'stinking' Arian neighbors, and Muslims denounced the 'reeking'
corruption of Umayyad and Abbasid decadence. Through the mouths of
saints and prophets, patriarchal authors labeled perfumed women as
existential threats to vulnerable men and consigned them to
enclosed, private space for their protection as well as society's.
At the same time, theologians praised both men and women who
purified and transformed their bodies into aromatic offerings to
God. Both Christian and Muslim pilgrims venerated sainted men and
women with perfumed offerings at tombstones; indeed, Christians and
Muslims often worshipped together, honoring common heroes such as
Abraham, Moses, and Jonah. Sacred Scents begins by surveying
aroma's quotidian functions in Roman and pre-Islamic cultural
milieus within homes, temples, poetry, kitchens, and medicines.
Existing scholarship tends to frame 'scent' as something available
only to the wealthy or elite; however, perfumes, spices, and
incense wafted through the lives of most early Christians and
Muslims. It ends by examining both traditions' views of Paradise,
identified as the archetypal Garden and source of all perfumes and
sweet smells. Both Christian and Islamic texts explain Adam and
Eve's profound grief at losing access to these heavenly aromas and
celebrate God's mercy in allowing earthly remembrances. Sacred
scent thus prompts humanity's grief for what was lost and the
yearning for paradisiacal transformation still to come.
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