Freaky on Witch Persecution (Well it is Halloween)

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rockfreak
Grecian
Posts: 972
Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:31 pm
Real Name: David Redshaw
Location: Saltdean, East Sussex

Freaky on Witch Persecution (Well it is Halloween)

Post by rockfreak »

Last week The Observer ran a feature on the late medieval persecution of alleged witches. It was felt that the state owed an apology to those who were hanged or burnt at the stake (Sorry girls, come down off that bonfire and we'll give you a big hug). In this week's edition yours truly gets a letter in, quoting the Catholic ex-nun and author Karen Armstrong who is well versed in comparative religion, history and classical mythology. Armstrong believes that the trouble started when, after the Reformation, advances in science, logic and rationality saw the devout try to give shape, form, personality and location to the biblical cast of characters. Thus: devils, witches and their familiars (lots of very unfortunate black cats) were identified and decreed to be a menace to society. This was nonsense of course because faith religion properly exists in the realm of myth, legend, symbolism and metaphor. As Armstrong says: "You end up with bad science and bad religion". It was an impossible conundrum but this is the reason, according to Armstrong, that the worst of the witch craze happened after the Reformation. Protestants even crazier than Catholics - trying to rationalise it all. Pondering on it elsewhere, Kenneth Clark in his epic TV series Civilisation, remarked on the way that advances in rationality had caused a burst of irrationality. I finish my letter by pondering whether the powerful trend towards literalist, fundamentalist, religious mania in middle America and elsewhere may lead to the return of Salem in the 20th century. Or even at Christ's Hospital. Watch out girls.
loringa
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Re: Freaky on Witch Persecution (Well it is Halloween)

Post by loringa »

Other than conflating Medieval with the Reformation that was an interesting post so why on earth did you have to add the final reference to Christ's Hospital? We all know your views on the institution which, presumably or you wouldn't have been there, provided you with an education you would not have received elsewhere, but why must you always add an irrelevant and unrelated dig against the institution?
rockfreak
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Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2014 8:31 pm
Real Name: David Redshaw
Location: Saltdean, East Sussex

Re: Freaky on Witch Persecution (Well it is Halloween)

Post by rockfreak »

How do you know I wouldn't have received the same education elsewhere? There has already been comment on this site as to the standard of education. I remember some inspiring teachers (maybe in the subjects that I was interested in) along with some obvious timeservers. Might not a decent grammar school have provided an equivalent education?
What I took from CH back in the 1950s was mainly provided out of class. I was lucky enough in Col B in my last year to have made friends with a group of people who were switched on intellectually, politically, philosophically and artistically. I noticed that in some other houses there appeared to be a preponderance of hearties and philistines. But in the end, in a supposedly advanced democracy like ours, shouldn't everyone be entitled to some of this stimulation at this age?
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