“Miracles and the Medieval Mind Revisited: Interpreting Miracle Stories in Medieval Hagiography”

 A Discussion Moderated by Professor Eric A. Ivison (CUNY College of Staten Island and CUNY Graduate Center)

CUNY Graduate Center (365 5th Avenue), Pearl Kibre Medieval Study (Room 5105), 7:00 p.m., Friday, April 12, 2019

Instead of a presentation this month, the Friends of the Saints invites you to a discussion of a core issue for all scholars and students of medieval hagiography: how to interpret miracle stories?  Attached are three PDF readings for us to discuss:

• Benedicta Ward, Miracles and the Medieval Mind. University of Pennsylvania Press: 2nd revised edition, 1987, Introduction and Chapters 1-2
• Barbara H. Rosenwein, Thomas Head, Sharon Farmer, “Monks and Their Enemies: A Comparative Approach.” Speculum 66:4 (October, 1991), 764-796.
• Steven Justice, “Did the Middle Ages Believe in Their Miracles?” Representations 103 (Summer, 2008), 2-29. 

These readings cover key aspects of the interpretation of miracula:  miracles as a gateway to medieval mentalite and religious belief; as tools for the propagation and defense of saintly cults and monasteries; and as sources that raise questions on medieval credulity and skepticism, and our own post-Enlightenment reception of the medieval miraculous.

Join us for a discussion arising from these readings and from your own experiences of reading and interpreting miracle stories (as always, with pot-luck refreshments).

Please let us know whether you will be coming (affirmative RSVPs only).

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