There is much to be shocked by in the Old English life of Saint Margaret: gruesome depictions of beheadings, beatings, and sexual threats are interpolated with Margaret’s miraculous exorcism and escape from the stomach of a dragon. Yet the first time I read Margaret’s hagiography, I found myself most surprised not by the tale’s violence or its inclusion of magical creatures, but by Margaret’s ability to turn her immersion…
Written in 523 and 1674 AD respectively, Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy and John Milton’s Paradise Lost are crucial works of Christian prose and poetry. Despite their clear promotion of the Christian faith, the two works rely on the literary and religious elements of classical Greece and Rome to convey their message. In this post, I aim to highlight two similarities between these works regarding their treatment of classical influences and…
The pieces shown in the smart museum prompted us to think about the role of art in making us simultaneously want to turn away in disgust but also captures our attention as discussed with our readings of Sontag and Augustine. Specifically, the piece by Jacque Callot, The Hangman’s Tree, both captivated our attention while also making our stomachs churn. The stark physical separation between the suspended bodies…
Group: Spencer, Jonah, Spencer, Jo Imagine brutal slasher horrors with flesh being ripped from bone and dripping chainsaws. The victims scream and plead for their lives. Blood sprays across the walls, the ceilings, and the camera. Viewers might flinch, or cover their eyes and look away. There is something so visceral and gruesome about blood. Imagine anything awful; imagine that scene from a horror movie where the victim is torn…
Andreas is a book of the travels and adventures of St. Andrew, or Andreas, as he attempts to save St. Matthew from a cannibalistic race of Mermedonians. However, it also allows for an inspection of the saintly suffering of a loyal follower of God, and how God’s reaction to Andreas’s torture reveals what God’s role is when faced with the suffering of his followers. At one point in the poem,…
Maragaret’s travails as a saint are pointedly isolated from human supporters. She is put to trial against her attackers, with only Theotimius secretly nourishing her. Not only does she face Olibrius alone, but her family opposes the support she receives from God. Before Olibrius captures her, she is still religiously persecuted. As Theotimius explains, “she was very hateful to her father, but very dear to God” (115). The sentence structure…
One of the more vivid scenes in Daniel occurs when Nebuchednezzer prepares to throw the three young men into the flame. Though the actual burning turns out to be anticlimactic, the paragraph of preparation is rife with anticipation and evil depictions of the flames. Nebuchednezzer commands the oven to be heated, watches as the flames are slowly and cruelly stoked, and finally gathers everyone to watch the torture (263). The…
One of the greatest differences between the depiction of humanity’s fall in the Vulgate Bible and the Old English poem Genesis B is the nature of Eve’s temptation by the snake. While in the Vulgate the snake tells Eve that upon eating the apple her “eyes shall be opened: and [she and Adam] shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil,” in Genesis B she is told that she…
Group: Frances, Jonah, Spencer, Jo As St. Margaret undergoes torture at the hand of the Roman Governor, she seemingly negotiates her legacy with God. She implores, “God… hear my prayer that whoever writes out my passion or hears it read from that time have his sins blotted out” (133). A dove descends and grants Margaret her prayers. What theological backstory does this call to the reader have? In his work…
Thinking about the Augustine and Sontag reading comes the prominent theme of how humans are drawn to violence. This is not necessarily through committing acts of violence, but by witnessing it. Why is it so hard to tear your gaze away from an act of violence once it begins? Why is there this primal curiosity associated with watching it through the end even if the viewer may have an…
