Communicating with the Spirits

Erscheinungsjahr 2005
ISBN: 978-963-7326-13-4
Verlag: Central European University Press

Buch, Englisch, 304 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 594 g

Focuses on the problem of communication with the other world: the phenomenon of spirit possession and its changing historical interpretations, the imaginary schemes elaborated for giving accounts of the journeys to the other world, for communicating with the dead, and finally the historical archetypes of this kind of religious manifestation—trance prophecy, divination, and shamanism.Recognized historians and ethnologists analyze the relationship, coexistence and conflicts of popular belief systems, Judeo-Christian mythology and demonology in medieval and modern Europe. The essays address links between rites and beliefs, folklore and literature; the legacy of various pre-Christian mythologies; the syncretic forms of ancient, medieval and modern belief- and rite-systems; "pure" examples from religious-ethnological research outside Europe to elucidate European problems.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Pócs, Éva

Klaniczay, Gábor

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Illustrations Introduction by Éva Pócs and Gábor Klaniczay Part I. Discernment of Spirits and Possession Nancy Caciola, Breath, Heart, Guts: The Body and Spirits in the Middle Ages Renata Mikolajczyk, Non sunt nisi phantasiae et imaginationes: a Medieval Attempt at Explaining Demons Moshe Sluhovsky, Discerning Spirits in Early Modern Europe Sophie Houdard, Mystics or Visionaries? Discernment of Spirits in the First Part of Seventeenth Century France Éva Pócs, Possession Phenomena, Possession-systems. Some East Central European Examples Part II. Contacts with the Other World Wolfgang Behringer, How Waldensians Became Witches: Heretics and Their Journey to the Other World Tok Thompson, Hosting the Dead: Thanotopic aspects of the Irish Sidhe Roberto Dapit, Visions of the Other World as Narrated in Contemporary Belief Legends from Resia Part III. Divination, Shamanism Christa Tuczay, Trance Prophets and Diviners in the Middle Ages Peter Buchholz, Shamanism in Medieval Scandinavian Literature Rune Hagen, The King, the Cat, and the Chaplain. King Christian IV's Encounter with the Sami Shamans of Northern Norway and Northern Russia in 1599

Über Autor(innen)

Pócs, Éva
Éva Pócs is Professor emeritus at the Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Pécs, Hungary.

Klaniczay, Gábor
Gábor Klaniczay is University Professor of Medieval Studies at the Central European University.