Fragmentation and Redemption is first of all about bodies and the relationship of part to whole in the high Middle Ages, a period in which the overcoming of partition and putrefaction was the very image of paradise. It is also a study of gender, that is, a study of how sex roles and possibilities are conceptualized by both men and women, even though asymmetric power relationships and men's greater access to knowledge have informed the cultural...
In Fragmentation and Redemption, Carolyn Bynum refutes modern misconceptions about spirituality and symbols in the European Middle Ages. More importantly and relevant to her book, she addresses misinterpretations of female spirituality in the same period. The author faults some of the models of prominent modern social scientists, arguing that they are not suitable to explain the content of religious symbols of this time. Bynum...
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Fragmentation and Redemption is a series of seven essays spanning the topics of gender, religious relics, sex, mortality, gender and the miraculous. The essays and the accompanying images are graphic and unforgettable. For example; "The ill clamored for the bathwater of would-be saints to drink or bathe in and preferred it if these would-be saints left skin and lice floating in the water." If you are interested in the cult...
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