04303nam 2200697Ia 450 991045535280332120211014003644.00-520-05722-81-280-07891-X97866135201800-520-90878-30-585-32648-710.1525/9780520908789(CKB)111004366700868(EBL)223849(OCoLC)45843145(SSID)ssj0000172646(PQKBManifestationID)11168311(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000172646(PQKBWorkID)10162350(PQKB)11263786(MiAaPQ)EBC223849(DE-B1597)520795(OCoLC)1114836826(DE-B1597)9780520908789(Au-PeEL)EBL223849(CaPaEBR)ebr10546799(CaONFJC)MIL352018(EXLCZ)9911100436670086819851119d1987 ub 0engurnn#---|u||utxtccrHoly feast and holy fast[electronic resource] the religious significance of food to medieval women /Caroline Walker BynumBerkeley University of California Pressc19871 online resource (496 p.)New historicismDescription based upon print version of record.0-520-06329-5 Includes bibliographical references and indexes.Front matter --Contents --List of Plates --Preface --Introduction --Part I. The Background --Part II. The Evidence --Part III. The Explanation --Epilogue --Abbreviations --Notes --General Index --Index of Secondary AuthorsIn the period between 1200 and 1500 in western Europe, a number of religious women gained widespread veneration and even canonization as saints for their extraordinary devotion to the Christian eucharist, supernatural multiplications of food and drink, and miracles of bodily manipulation, including stigmata and inedia (living without eating). The occurrence of such phenomena sheds much light on the nature of medieval society and medieval religion. It also forms a chapter in the history of women. Previous scholars have occasionally noted the various phenomena in isolation from each other and have sometimes applied modern medical or psychological theories to them. Using materials based on saints' lives and the religious and mystical writings of medieval women and men, Caroline Walker Bynum uncovers the pattern lying behind these aspects of women's religiosity and behind the fascination men and women felt for such miracles and devotional practices. She argues that food lies at the heart of much of women's piety. Women renounced ordinary food through fasting in order to prepare for receiving extraordinary food in the eucharist. They also offered themselves as food in miracles of feeding and bodily manipulation. Providing both functionalist and phenomenological explanations, Bynum explores the ways in which food practices enabled women to exert control within the family and to define their religious vocations. She also describes what women meant by seeing their own bodies and God's body as food and what men meant when they too associated women with food and flesh. The author's interpretation of women's piety offers a new view of the nature of medieval asceticism and, drawing upon both anthropology and feminist theory, she illuminates the distinctive features of women's use of symbols. Rejecting presentist interpretations of women as exploited or masochistic, she shows the power and creativity of women's writing and women's lives.New historicism.FoodReligious aspectsChristianityWomenHistoryMiddle Ages, 500-1500Food habitsHistoryTo 1500Electronic books.FoodReligious aspectsChristianity.WomenHistoryFood habitsHistory248.46Bynum Caroline Walker525137MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910455352803321Holy feast and holy fast2376210UNINA