[Sca-cooks] RE: Cannibalism , ritualistic or otherwise

[Laura C. Minnick]

At 08:47 PM 4/21/2005, you wrote:
>I won't wade into this subject because the literature is far too vast
>to be summed up in a series of e-mails, even on this list.

No kidding!

Suggesting that communion is cannibalism is... at best shows a lack of 
understanding of a fairly complex matter, at worst a lack of respect. I do 
hope we aren't getting in the habit of making flip statements- especially 
ones so likely to offend.

However, and more to the matter I wanted to address- there has been a great 
deal of scholarly work in the past few years on subjects around body issues 
(especially women's), religious fervor, and the mixing of the two. The rise 
of Affective Piety in the 14th and 15th c centuries in particular is a good 
example- where the taking of the Host is seen as a deliberate act of 
participation in the Passion, a way of understanding Christ's sacrifice by 
becoming part of it.

For someone seriously interested in the subject of communion and the 
relationship between the elements and the receiver, the work of Caroline 
Walker-Bynum probably has the most value:

_Resurrection of the Body in Western Christianity, 200-1336_ (Columbia 
University Press, New York, 1995)

_Fragmentation and Redemption: Essays on Gender and the Human Body in 
Medieval Religion_ (Zone Books, New York, 1992)

_Holy Feast and Holy Fast:The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval 
Women_ (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1987)

Karma Lochrie also was working on religion and body issues, but it has been 
probably 7 years since I last spoke to her- I don't know if that work is 
out yet. Might be worthwhile to poke about in the library catalogue.

'Lainie
(who grew up with those dry white cracker bits and Welch's grape juice :-P)
___________________________________________________________________________
O it is excellent to have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous To use it 
like a giant--Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act II