The Fear of Hell. Images of Damnation and Salvation in Early Modern Europe.

Aus der Bibliothek von Prof. Wolfgang Haase, langj�igem Herausgeber der ANRW und des International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT) / From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - sehr guter Zustand / very good condition - In this exciting new work, Piero Camporesi turns his attention to two of the most powerful images in Christianity: hell and the eucharist. -- In the first part of the book, Camporesi argues that the fear of hell, which prevailed in Europe over many hundreds of years, has now almost completely faded. By comparison with the present age, the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries labored under vivid and horrifying images of the underworld: from the frozen expanses of Dante�s Inferno to the claustrophobic, stinking pits of the Baroque imagination. Drawing on the writings of Italian preachers and theologians of the CounterReformation, Camporesi shows how the image of hell developed into a grotesque parody of divine judgment, an image which was relieved only by the advent of the Enlightenment. -- The eucharist, or host, the subject of the second part of the book, represented corporeal salvation for early modern Christians and was therefore closely linked with the imagery of hell, the place of perpetual corporeal destruction. As the bread of life, the host possessed many miraculous powers of healing and sustenance, which made it precious to those in need. In fact, it was seen to be so precious to some that Camporesi suggests there was a �clandestine consumption of the sacred unleavened bread, a network of dealers and sellers,� and a �market of consumers.� But to those who ate the host unworthily was the prospect of swift retribution. One wicked priest continued to celebrate the mass despite his sin, and as a result, �his tongue and half of his face became rotten, thus demonstrating, unwillingly, by the stench of his decaying face, how much the pestiferous smell of his contaminated heart was abominable to God.� When received properly, however, the host was a source of health and life both in this world and in the world to come. -- Written with style and imagination, The Fear of Hell provides a scholarly and vivid examination of the religious bases of Christian culture, whose influence can still be found in our beliefs and customs today. ISBN 9780271007342