IMC 2016: Sessions

Session 1007: Religious Polemics Compared, I: Inside the Polemicist's Workshop

Wednesday 6 July 2016, 09.00-10.30

Sponsor:	Project 'Diversitas religionum: 13th-Century Foundations of European Discourses of Religious Diversity'
Organiser:	Sita Steckel, Historisches Seminar, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Moderator/Chair:	Sita Steckel, Historisches Seminar, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Paper 1007-a	From Anti-Heretical Polemics to Vernacular Catechism: Ulrich von Pottenstein's Translation of Petrus Zwicker's Anti-Waldensian Treatise (Language: English) Reima Välimäki, Department of Cultural History / Turku Centre for Medieval & Early Modern Studies, University of Turku Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Lay Piety, Religious Life, Theology
Paper 1007-b	Magistra Magistrorum: Hildegard of Bingen's Polemical Discourse on False Teaching (Language: English) Andra-Nicoleta Alexiu, Historisches Seminar, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Education, Monasticism, Religious Life
Paper 1007-c	The Text as Heretic: Polemical Techniques and the Speculum Simplicium Animarum (Language: English) Justine Trombley, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, University of Toronto, Downtown Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Lay Piety, Religious Life
Abstract	Given their stereotypical and manipulative nature, medieval religious polemics are often considered problematical as sources. But polemics also present an avenue of investigation: They often connected the realms of written and oral as well as learned and unlearned audiences. The intrinsically comparative nature of polemics often went beyond simple 'othering' to enable complex (albeit negative) views of religious diversity. Part of a double session aiming to explore the construction of polemical texts in detail, the session cuts across inter-religious and intra-Christian polemics to explore the limits and potentials of polemical techniques and the relation of arguments and audiences.