The Argument in Bynum's "Jesus As Mother and Abbot as Mother"

The principal focus is on the discourse of the Cistercians, a surround order, but writings from different spiritual communities atomic number 18 cited as well.

Descriptions of Jesus as fix owe much to stereotypes of women that dominated medieval thought: that females are generative in giving let, sacrificial in experiencing birth pains, tender and loving, and nurturing (Bynum 131). The last-named quality appears to dominate where female tomography is given over to Christ or leaders of religious community. The idea of lactation at Christ's or an abbot's breast is linked to the notion of the soul's tyrannical matrimony with God and is an extended metaphor for the physical nub with Christ that comes about with consumption of the Eucharist. The storey is that absolute union with Christ is a desirable spiritual state. The singularity similarly appears to have had the effect of criticizing "Cathar dualism" (134), or the idea that the cosmos comprised 2 equal

orces, good and loathsomeness (orthodox doctrine held that the Creation was God's alone and was therefore good).

Repeated references to secret abbots as mothers are explained by the valorization of feminine stereotypes of tenderness and incorrupt suasion in the context of religious community.

Bynum is careful to point out that this is not the same as suggesting that medieval men, whether religious or not, had a very high opinion of women. Rather, the stereotyped conception of women served as a kind of code that denotative moral and ethical values that were to obtain inside the cloistered community, which was set apart from life in the secular world.

The enate descriptions of Jesus that the Cistercians employed emphasized the ideas of "compassion, nurturing, and union" (151), and enate tomography readily lends itself to the way in which these virtues were meant to be understood. Such imagery is consistent with the fact that Bernard, for example, "leaps to the topic of pastoral responsibility when [he] finds maternal metaphors in the Bible . . . [and] to maternal or feminine imagery when [he] must disc
Ordercustompaper.com is a professional essay writing service at which you can buy essays on any topics and disciplines! All custom essays are written by professional writers!