III. LAY WOMEN HEALERS

1943 ◽  
pp. 37-61
Keyword(s):  
Lay Women ◽  
Women Healers

The Medieval Economy of Salvation

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam J. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Charitable Giving ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Social Significance ◽  
Charitable Organizations ◽  
Local Economies ◽  
Gift Economy ◽  
Lay Women ◽  
Emerging Culture ◽  
Charitable Institution ◽  
New Institutions

This book shows how the burgeoning commercial economy of western Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, alongside an emerging culture of Christian charity, led to the establishment of hundreds of hospitals and leper houses. Focusing on the county of Champagne, the book looks at the ways in which charitable organizations and individuals saw in these new institutions a means of infusing charitable giving and service with new social significance and heightened expectations of spiritual rewards. Hospitals served as visible symbols of piety and, as a result, were popular objects of benefaction. They also presented lay women and men with new penitential opportunities to personally perform the works of mercy, which many embraced as a way to earn salvation. At the same time, these establishments served a variety of functions beyond caring for the sick and the poor; as benefactors donated lands and money to them, hospitals became increasingly central to local economies, supplying loans, distributing food, and acting as landlords. In tracing the rise of the medieval hospital during a period of intense urbanization and the transition from a gift economy to a commercial one, the book makes clear how embedded this charitable institution was in the wider social, cultural, religious, and economic fabric of medieval life.

scholarly journals Partners in Ministry & Mission: Women Religious and Associates

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan P. Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Women Religious ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
Corporate Structure ◽  
Religious Congregations ◽  
Organizational Decision Making ◽  
The North ◽  
Lay Women ◽  
Aging Populations ◽  
History Of

Women’s religious communities—like other communities of religious—began exploring the possibility of embracing lay women and men as associate members in the 1970s and 1980s. Associate member groups offered congregations a new way to extend the reach of their respective missions and charisms, while deepening the relationships with lay women and men who partnered with them in ministry.In this paper, I explore the relatively recent history of associate groups and how these organizations have and continue to work with their sponsoring congregations. I use data from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA)—commissioned recently by the North American Conference of Associates and Religious (NACAR)—to look at demographic trends among women religious and associates. I describe how religious communities incorporate associates into their organizational decision-making, and how certain internal processes—like general chapters—are now open to associate members.Overall, I submit that given the declining numbers of sisters and aging populations of many religious communities, associate groups have the potential to provide opportunities to conceptualize new forms of religious life in the Catholic Church. Finally, I argue that associate groups also have the important role of increasing gender, racial, and class diversity among communities of women religious, and that this diversity may lead to a more inclusive and democratizing corporate structure for women’s religious congregations in the 21st century.

Lay Women in the Hospitals of Late Medieval Bergamo

Florilegium ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-65
Author(s):  
Roisin Cossar
Keyword(s):  
Late Medieval ◽  
Lay Women

A Material History of the Bible, England 1200-1553

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eyal Poleg
Keyword(s):  
Careful Analysis ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Religious Transformation ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Lay Women ◽  
History Of ◽  
Material History ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Political Turmoil ◽  
First Time

This book examines the production and use of Bibles in late medieval and early modern England. The analysis of hundreds of biblical manuscripts and prints reveals how scribes, printers, readers, and patrons have reacted to religious and political turmoil. Looking at the modification of biblical manuscripts, or the changes introduced into subsequent printed editions, reveals the ways in which commerce and devotions joined to shape biblical access. The book explores the period from c.1200 to 1553, which saw the advent of moveable-type print as well as the Reformation. The book’s long-view places both technological and religious transformation in a new perspective. The book progresses chronologically, starting with the mass-produced innovative Late Medieval Bible, which has often been linked to the emerging universities and book-trade of the thirteenth century. The second chapter explores Wycliffite Bibles, arguing against their common affiliation with groups outside Church orthodoxy. Rather, it demonstrates how surviving manuscripts are linked to licit worship, performed in smaller monastic houses, by nuns and devout lay women and men. The third chapter explores the creation and use of the first Bible printed in England as evidence for the uncertain course of reform at the end of Henry VIII’s reign. Henry VIII’s Great Bible is studied in the following chapter. Rather than a monument to reform, a careful analysis of its materiality and use reveals it to have been a mostly useless book. The final chapter presents the short reign of Edward VI as a period of rapid transformation in Bible and worship, when some of the innovations introduced more than three hundred years earlier began, for the first time, to make sense.

“Heal Thyself”: Holistic Women Healers in Middle America

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine J. Lawless
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Traditional Healing ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Healing Community ◽  
Middle America ◽  
Women Healers ◽  
Healing Modalities

In chapter 6, “‘Heal Thyself’: Holistic Women Healers in Middle America,” Elaine J. Lawless profiles a local “healing community” of women in or near Columbia, Missouri, who regularly meet and share knowledge about and practice together various healing modalities. In addition to learning from each other, she notes, the women in the group also learn new healing practices offered by healers who were visiting from other areas, so mouth to mouth and hand to hand learning take place all the time. They all claim a holistic approach, which guides their daily lives as well as their healing practices, and includes attention to complex understandings of how mind, body, and spirit work in conjunction within the human body. Through the stories of these women, Lawless offers a unique glimpse into their shared corpus of knowledge and the traditional healing beliefs and practices they espouse, as well as her own place within the healing community.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document