Franciscans and the elixir of life : religion and science in the later Middle Ages / Zachary A. Matus.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Matus, Zachary A., author.

Series:

Middle Ages series

The Middle Ages series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Franciscans.

Alchemy--Religious aspects--Christianity--History--To 1500.

Alchemy.

Franciscans--History--To 1500.

Religion and science--Europe--History--To 1500.

Religion and science.

Elixir of life.

Alchemy--Religious aspects--Christianity.

History.

Europe.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

201 pages ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : PENN, University of Pennsylvania Press, [2017]

Summary:

One of the major ambitions of medieval alchemists was to discover the elixir of life, a sovereign remedy capable not only of healing the body but transforming it. Given the widespread belief that care for the body came at the cost of care for the soul, it might seem surprising that any Franciscan would pursue the elixir, but those who did were among its most outspoken and optimistic advocates. They believed they could distill a substance that would purify, transmute, and ennoble the human body as well as the soul. In an age when Christians across Europe were seeking material evidence of their faith and corporeal means of practicing their devotion, alchemy, and the elixir in particular, offered a means of bridging the terrestrial and the celestial. Framed as a history around science, Franciscans and the Elixir of Life focuses on alchemy as a material practice and investigates the Franciscan discourses and traditions that shaped the pursuit of the elixir, providing a rich examination of alchemy and religiosity. Zachary A. Matus makes new connections between alchemy, ritual life, apocalypticism, and the particular commitment of the Franciscan Order to the natural world, shedding new light on the question of why so many people claimed to have made, seen, or used alchemical compounds that could never have existed.

Contents:

Introduction

Franciscans and the sacral cosmos (the context of Franciscan alchemy)

Three elixirs

The apocalyptic imperative

A subjunctive science

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-197) and index.

ISBN:

9780812249217

0812249216

OCLC:

960292619

Publisher Number:

40027168834