SACRED AND SECULAR IN MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN CULTURES: NEW ESSAYS; ED. BY LAWRENCE BESSERMAN

Even casual observers will be familiar with the Cherry Blossom or Sakura tress of Japan. When in full bloom the sight is spectacular but it sadly only takes a week until the tree is bare. In a longer cycle of nations and business, we see, unfortunately, a similar pattern for Japanese Multinational Corporations. This Book Illuminates The Pervasive Interplay Of Sacred And Secular Phenomena In The Literature, History, Politics, And Religion Of The Middle Ages And Early Modern Periods. Following An Introduction That Examines Methodological Questions In The Study Of The Sacred And The Secular, The Other Essays Treat (among Other Topics): Old English Poetry, Troubadour Lyrics, Twelfth-century Romance, The Gregorian Reform, Middle English Lyrics And The Work Of The Pearl-poet, Luther, And Shakespeare. The Essays Gathered Here Constitute A New Way Of Applying A Classic Dichotomy To Major Cultural Phenomena Of The Pre-modern Era. Introduction: Sacred And Secular In Medieval And Early Modern Cultures : Issues And Approaches / Lawrence Besserman -- The Imitation Of Hagiographic Formulas In Occitanian Vidas (lives Of The Troubadours) / Cyril Aslanov -- Quid Hinieldus Cum Christo? The Secular Expression Of The Sacred In Old And Middle English Lyrics / Thomas G. Duncan -- Reading Radical Metonymy In Pearl / Alan J. Fletcher -- Purchasing Pardon : Material And Spiritual Economies On The Canterbury Pilgrimage / Alastair Minnis -- Sacred And Secular In The Merchant Of Venice / Murray Roston -- The Communal Body, The Corporate Body, And The Clerical Body : An Anthropological Reading Of The Gregorian Reform / Lior Barshack -- Sacred, Secular, And Impure : The Contextuality Of Sensations / Esther Cohen -- Secular And Sacred : The History Of Rhetoric And Religious Community In The Middle Ages / Rita Copeland -- Sacred Authority And Secular Power : The Historical Argument Of The Gesta Episcoporum Cameracensis / Robert M. Stein -- The Space Of The Altar / Miri Rubinches Edited By Lawrence Besserman. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.