Isn't Our Body the Only Thing We Have? Catherine of Siena, Medieval Fasting and (Post) Modern Anorexia Nervosa
Medieval fasting inspired fascination and fear, was used by its (mainly female) practitioners to authenticate mystical experience, and was increasingly controlled by the (male) clerical hierarchy of the Catholic Church of the time. Modern anorexia nervosa inspires a similar range of responses and, i...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2015]
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| In: |
Medieval mystical theology
Year: 2015, Volume: 24, Issue: 1, Pages: 6-22 |
| IxTheo Classification: | KAE Church history 900-1300; high Middle Ages KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KCD Hagiography; saints KDB Roman Catholic Church NBE Anthropology |
| Further subjects: | B
Grace Jantzen
B symbolic B Anorexia Nervosa B Luce Irigaray B spirit-centred personhood B Transcendence B Subjectivity B Gender B Society B Catherine of Siena B medieval fasting B Immanence |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) |
| Summary: | Medieval fasting inspired fascination and fear, was used by its (mainly female) practitioners to authenticate mystical experience, and was increasingly controlled by the (male) clerical hierarchy of the Catholic Church of the time. Modern anorexia nervosa inspires a similar range of responses and, in the personhood of those whose eating is disordered in this way, reflects similar links between the formation of gendered subjectivity and the social context in which the individual is located. This paper proposes the concept of spirit-centred personhood, developed from the work of Luce Irigaray and Grace Jantzen, as a way of understanding the meaning that is signified by fasting and disordered eating, and ultimately a spiritual source of healing for the individual that can be drawn upon by those with eating disorders and the healthcare practitioners who seek to order their eating through their work with them. |
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| ISSN: | 2046-5734 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Medieval mystical theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1179/2046572615Z.00000000029 |