The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200-1336 by Caroline Walker Bynum

The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200-1336 by Caroline Walker Bynum

In The Resurrection of the Body Caroline Bynum forges a new path of historical inquiry by studying the notion of bodily resurrection in the ancient and medieval West against the background of persecution and conversion, social hierarchy, burial practices, and the cult of saints. Examining those periods between the late second and fourteenth centuries in which discussions of the body were central to Western conceptions of death and resurrection, she suggests that the attitudes toward the body emerging from these discussions still undergird our modern conceptions of personal identity and the individual. Bynum describes how Christian thinkers clung to a very literal notion of resurrection, despite repeated attempts by some theologians and philosophers to spiritualize the idea. Focusing on the metaphors and examples used in theological and philosophical discourse and on artistic depictions of saints, death, and resurrection, Bynum connects the Western obsession with bodily return to a deep-seated fear of biological process and a tendency to locate identity and individuality in body. Of particular interest is the imaginative religious imagery, often bizarre to modern eyes, which emerged during medieval times. Bynum has collected here thirty-five examples of such imagery, which illuminate her discussion of bodily resurrection. With this detailed study of theology, piety, and social history, Bynum writes a new chapter in the history of the body and challenges our views on gender, social hierarchy, and difference.

There are few historians of whom one can say that they have actually shifted some of the landscape of the writing of history in their own generation, but Bynum is one of themThe New Republic Bynum's account is a very impressive and persuasive one... well supported by textual references and by connections she makes between what the ancients wrote and their burial practices, treatment of corpses and cults of relics... [A] fascinating and wide-ranging account that tells us a lot about medieval thinking and practice. New York Times Book Review A remarkable achievement of scholarship and interpretation, an imaginative, determined, and persuasive probing of a counterintuitive thesis. -- Nicholas Terpstra Sixteenth Century Journal

Caroline Walker Bynum is University Professor Emerita at Columbia University and professor emerita of medieval European history at the Institute for Advanced Study. Her books include Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women(1987); Metamorphosis and Identity (2001); Wonderful Blood: Theology and Practice in Late Medieval Northern Germany and Beyond (2007); and Christian Materiality: An Essay on Religion in Late Medieval Europe (2011).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780231081276
ISBN 10	0231081278
Title	The Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200-1336
Author	Caroline Walker Bynum
Series	American Lectures On The History Of Religions
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Columbia University Press
Year published	1996-05-23
Number of pages	384
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.