[Sca-cooks] Fun and ignorance

[Laura C. Minnick]

At 03:50 PM 10/11/02 -0400, you wrote:
>If one knew nothing whatsoever about herbs, medicine, cooking, or the
>Middle Ages, I would think one would still have trouble with the
>internal logic of
>
>>practice generally employed only by
>>monastery monks and "herbalists";
>>
>because
>
>>herbs were viewed as "evil"
>>due to their association with pagan rituals; further, illness was viewed
>>as a punishment for sins and hence, diseas was considered a divine
>>retribution not to be interfered with.
>>
>
>So only monks, especially Benedictines,  practiced this "unchristian"
>activity of healing? Am I missing something?
>
>Anne

I was wondering about that myself- obviously the authors are not Brother
Cadfael fans!

It is my impression that viewing disease as a divine punishment was a
distinctly minority view, and that nursing the sick and ministering to the
dying was an especially laudable act of Christian charity. Certainly there
are many saints who were much lauded for it. Of course it doesn't make such
entertaining reading as a story of how silly and ignorant and bigoted
medieval people were...

*grrr*

'Lainie
-who doesn't know anything and obviously faked her way through college...
____________________________________________________________________________
Sometimes Life makes drastic changes without our permission...