As I can think of no better application of this mailing list than sharing primary historical material, I am going to offer the members of this group some fruits which my labours in archived data-bases have yielded. They are only a few tid bits.
Most of this material comprises of extracts from the canonical writings of the early church fathers, but I have also found (although not included here, but anyone interested can simply do a word search of occasions of exomologesis in the Eighteen Century Collection online) some late 18th century church histories of the 'public discipline' of the medieval church, some of which call for its return and others which resume the denunciation against it as a scandalizing force rather than as a salutary one for the public good: it seems that the shame which such revelations testified to was itself to be covered over, effaced, hidden away.
People interested in this theme, would do well to remember that during the 16th century in england, contemporaneous with the iconoclasm of inconaphilia , the gaze had a dual aspect, at once both the occasion of carnal sin and the condition of visibility which is incompatible with the principle of evil, whose only power is to remain hidden, and which beats a retreat in the face of a light which confronts the truth about it, betrays it, and thus disarms it in advance: moral reform projects of the 16 th century assume the form of a kind of 'salutary exposure' (the bell-man of London is one of the best examples here). The society for the reformation of manners was founded in this age and in the 17th century published its 'Black Lists', which some how fit in and find its place alongside the Broadsheets of the parish 'Death Registers'. Of course, we all know the late 18th early 19th century as the age of improvement, a kind of re-enlightenment, but it was
also the great age of scandal, of the treatment and conditions of the most wretched class of human beings, the sick, the poor, the insane, which became a kind of index by which the degree of civilization could be measured, its sense of 'decency'.
The sources are attached. A warning: these excerpts were taken from searchable electronic data-basis of out of copyright translations. Most university libraries should have copies of these texts in a more readable form (other places to find them are in catholic universities and libraries).
Start at the new Yahoo!7 for a better online experience. www.yahoo7.com.au
Most of this material comprises of extracts from the canonical writings of the early church fathers, but I have also found (although not included here, but anyone interested can simply do a word search of occasions of exomologesis in the Eighteen Century Collection online) some late 18th century church histories of the 'public discipline' of the medieval church, some of which call for its return and others which resume the denunciation against it as a scandalizing force rather than as a salutary one for the public good: it seems that the shame which such revelations testified to was itself to be covered over, effaced, hidden away.
People interested in this theme, would do well to remember that during the 16th century in england, contemporaneous with the iconoclasm of inconaphilia , the gaze had a dual aspect, at once both the occasion of carnal sin and the condition of visibility which is incompatible with the principle of evil, whose only power is to remain hidden, and which beats a retreat in the face of a light which confronts the truth about it, betrays it, and thus disarms it in advance: moral reform projects of the 16 th century assume the form of a kind of 'salutary exposure' (the bell-man of London is one of the best examples here). The society for the reformation of manners was founded in this age and in the 17th century published its 'Black Lists', which some how fit in and find its place alongside the Broadsheets of the parish 'Death Registers'. Of course, we all know the late 18th early 19th century as the age of improvement, a kind of re-enlightenment, but it was
also the great age of scandal, of the treatment and conditions of the most wretched class of human beings, the sick, the poor, the insane, which became a kind of index by which the degree of civilization could be measured, its sense of 'decency'.
The sources are attached. A warning: these excerpts were taken from searchable electronic data-basis of out of copyright translations. Most university libraries should have copies of these texts in a more readable form (other places to find them are in catholic universities and libraries).
Start at the new Yahoo!7 for a better online experience. www.yahoo7.com.au