fascinating discussion of mystics, heretics, and witches sets those individuals and their followers within appropriate historical context, My daughter and I enjoyed this audio, and we look forward to listening to others, Had a good time with this one, I learned lots
At times, though, I had to listen rather closely because of the professor's accent, Also, it wasn't exactly what I thought based on a cursory reading of the title, I had thought that the "Terror" of history was simply the sort of stuff brought about by superstition and the Inquisition, This was not exactly what he meant,
This is definitely an interesting one, I recommend it. Man does this guy like using, "in a sense, " I'm enjoying it so far, although I don't agree with Professor Ruiz' thesis that the mystic experience is a reaction to what he calls "the terror of history, " I guess the title alone told me plainly enough how broad this was going to be, but it was shallower than I expected, I just didn't learn a lot, Also I don't think I'll ever be able to forget the professor's absolutely bizarre, emphatic insistence that I had to have a clear understanding that in the seventeenth century any woman who lived to be forty years old would absolutely necessarily be a decrepit crone with "hanging breasts" and "almost all her teeth gone".
That came almost at the end of the series and I almost wish he'd said something that mindbogglingly dumb earlier so I could have skipped the rest, But really it wasn't bad I guess I just know more about the subject matter than I thought I did, Also he has a cool accent, so there was that, Super interesting and informative! I wish certain parts would have delved deeper, but it washours so, . . lol Decent overview of the subject matter, It was a lot to cover, so nothing was delved into too deeply, It's a survey course. The professor is a little scattered in his approach and that can be a bit distracting, The sociological and economical aspects of a society are as necessary as the typically taught political with the religious perspective of history for understanding, The period of time fromCE to aboutare most relevant to today and this Great Course connects to why heterodoxy is necessary for understanding all of history,
The educated elite needed to escape from the stifling bounds of the conforming orthodoxy and the mystics provided a path, Soon what was not orthodox, part of the stifling conforming norm, would come from the devil and scapegoats were required, oh to be an old widowed women with independent thought they were to be chosen to be the not holy and the scapegoats.
It was not so much the inquisition that would blame the witch as it would be the man who was impotent that night and remember seeing that old woman on the margins crossing his path the day before and besides seeing another suffer always makes one taller in ones own eyes.
False framing is always dangerous, When St. Teresa of Avila sees blueness, her only question is it of the devil or is it holy, Perhaps, she should have wondered if it was a figment of her mind, or the proverbial undigested piece of meat from last nights dinner, but, unfortunately, her confessor would tell her it must be from Jesus since Teresa of Avila was saintly, a nun and knew only goodness.
False framing leads to cults, The start of courtly love comes about in this time period, As the lecturer mentions there was a handbook that would say that if you are a gentlemen and if you happen upon a wench by all means take your liberties against her and rape her if you desire it, after all you are the gentlemen and she is not worthy of consideration.
Disgusting right and you would think with todays sensibilities we could never advocate such a person, Youd be wrong. We as a country did just that whenvoted for somebody who said practically the same thing when he said I grab them by the pssy, they expect it, Im a star and they really want it from a star like me.
Scapegoats, false framing, and no regard for the personhood of another are all familiar within these lectures and seems to align with who we are today, In order to appreciate European history fromtoone needs a familiarity with the somewhat arcane topics covered in these lectures, Besides in the end, all history is fun to learn and just might help us from repeating the same mistakes of the past, but the brain dead cult worshippers of the fascist in the Whitehouse should just ignore this lecture series since they have no reason to grow since they already have certainty with their faith in their leader and his world of false framing, scapegoats and making the world great again, just like the handbook for courtly love would advocate.
Absolutely brilliant. Loved everything about these audio lectures, now I'm going to get the book,
Absorbing, refreshing approach of prof, Ruiz made these seemingly unconnected topics flow,
I loved how he described the religious, political, social and economic conditions that were the perfect storm for the witch craze, I thought the lectures on mystics and heretics fascinating and now I'm craving for more,
I've known most of the 'protagonists' and the facts before, but they were presented here with passion which is infectious, and the deep knowledge of the author cannot but leave you in awe.
Thoroughly recommended. Ruiz just seemed to be overflowing with knowledge and insight, and to be so eager to share it, These lectures are very rich, They are definitely worth another listen, Fabulous lecture seriesminute lectures with outline for each lecture about society, economics, politics, religion, prejudice, misogyny and the use/abuse of power in history, Very enlightening. Read it many years ago, definitely worth coming back to, Messed up to put "terror" in the title and make it that boring, The very last line makes such an amazingly powerful knot to connect the entire piece together because it's reflected in the title the terror of history isn't dark magic, it's humanity at least that's what I got from it.
I think this is a must read albeit it's actually the Great Courses audio lecture series for just about anyone because it helps shed light on the ways in which perceptions can create history, and how in many ways we are still overcoming the dramatic changes that took place during the Middle Ages.
I also found it provides a map for thinking about how technologically, societal changes, etc aren't always as great as we purport them to be there's a cost involved, I was very impressed with this series, مجموعة من الحاضرات الصوتية عن تاريخ الصوفية والمبتدعين والساحرات في أوروبا الغربية من عامميلادي إلى نهاية القرن السابع عشر. لم يشد انتباهي بالكتاب إلا القسم الأخير الذي يتكلم فيه عن الساحرات. Despite what the title suggests, this interesting
albeit uneven series of lectures wasnt about the terror of history as much as it was about the ways that people coped with that terror while they were living in the midst of it.
The three topics were only loosely connected, but together they provided an interesting overview of three of the most important ways that ordinary people made sense of their world during the Middle Ages.
In addition to providing the economic, political, and social context for each topic, the lecturer used a broad array of case studies and a wide range of source materials to create his lectures.
The section on mysticism was probably the weakest, but Teofilo Ruiz found his stride by the section on heresy and the section of on witchcraft was absolutely brilliant, I really appreciated the fact that he didnt hesitate to address the misogyny at the heart of the witch craze, Furthermore, although he spoke a little quickly at times, he was a knowledgeable and charismatic speaker overall, By their very nature, the Great Courses only provide an introduction to a topic or topics, in this case, but it was a solid introduction and a solid foundation for future reading.
It's a good and informative overview, I thoroughly enjoyed it, Goodlecture series on less of witches and specific cases and more into the history of the conditions that made mystics and witches a thing in Western culture, The edition chosen on Goodreads says "audio casset" but only because there is no option for the physical paperback book I actually picked up from my library no audio versions were available.
In regards to the book: It is not actually a book, let alone a series of actual lectures, so much as a series of bullet point outlines that effectively amount to little more than an abstract for a case study if that a textual rendering of powerpoint slideshows sand images or anything of interest played during the real hall lectures and not much else followed by some minimal "suggested reading" and a few "questions to consider".
Potentially useful as a selfstudy guide if you're a college student involved infields of academic study as a supplemental text to courses you're already taking, Likely completely useless otherwise especially if you already know the information in the first place, Although if you want a very brief overview of the events, you may find it semiuseful as a starter so that you have at least some basic knowledge before delving into something larger and more complicated like the sitelinkThe Oxford Illustrated History of Witchcraft and Magic.
Just a fantastic lecture. A few times with the constant corrections I was considering lies and deceit but sometime with lectures they do auto correct as the brain makes adjustments later, Like all who follow my writings know I love a great bibliography and this course has one so now I have lots more to read and that is wonderful because I love those Accompanying PDFs and to imagine a real Professor who includes his contact information like I used to do so you have a life long mentorship program and life long learning plan to always find the exciting, the hidden, the truths and now I wonder if Ruiz was the author I read years ago and loved his books.
I will have to save the search for a different day thought,
This book covers everything from how the concept of Terror began and Dante ran with it, How sex and witches are seen humping or is that flying on their broom sticks or perhaps just stopping out ants lol a little humor, Surely I am now the scary woman in the big house at the end of the street, . . lol I do go walking in the woods, talk to the animals, grow my own mushrooms, . . and READ! Inthe Teaching Company released Professor Teofilio F, Ruizslectures audio course “The Terror of History: Mystics, Heretics, and Witches in the Western Tradition, ” Teofilio is a National Humanities Award winning historian and an esteemed educatorauthor, His course traces the historical movements of mysticism and heretical judgements from thest toth century, His history culminates in thewitch craft events in Salem, Massachusetts, He believes fear and uncertainties underpin an historic terror that touches deeply our beliefs and way of life, P Its amazing to me how impossible it is to consider history without drawing inevitable comparisons to the present, but I suppose that is exactly the point, These audio lectures are a combination of medievalAD history and philosophy that attempts to explain how those living during this time of social uncertainties and violence came to cope with it all.
Prof Ruiz weaves together the dichotomy of views of the educated able to read and write their views with the largely illiterate 'masses' those dealing with wordofmouth halftruths and rumors.
The explanation/descriptions of mystics, while a bit dry, laid the groundwork for understanding the heretics and finally the witches and other social scapegoats are mostly developed by the elite and only vaguely understood by the masses.
People like Frances of Assisi, Hildegard of Bingen, and Bernard of Clairvaux hardly names that roll easily off the tongue, . . at least my tongue are shown to have had a very strong influence, not only in their time, but extending far into thest century Dan Brown certainly draws heavily from those types of mystics.
But did the masses even come close to understanding their messages, or were those largerthanlife figures just there to somehow bring meaning to their otherwise cruel life Ruiz's Terror,
The real 'meat' of the lectures, however, are the bad guys, the heretics and witches, which provide the masses someone/something to blame for their misery, Much like the masses saw the inquisition of heretics in theth century as a test of Christian faith, we see heretics today, mostly on the front pages of the newspapers.
. . "Shiite/Sunni Strife Hits Middle East", or "Branch Davidians Die in Conflagration" I made those headline up, but you get the idea, And we all know about the witch hunts in theth century think Salem, especially with Halloween coming up in which as many as,women and men died horrible deaths burning or hanging for no really good reason, other than somebody didn't like them.
As Ruiz points out, how is that different from the "Red scare" of the's or the current atrocities within Islam aka beheading for religious disagreements,
Oh my, there's a lot of meat here, with plenty left over for future food for thought! Good, not great lectures, Difficult at times I needed to relisten to several of the mystics lectures to really get it but it pays off in the end,
Recommend, but only when on sale and you have a coupon or two,lectures,minutes/lecture
Course No,
Western civilization is closely associated with reason and science, and with exceptional accomplishment in art, architecture, music, and literature,
Yet it has also been characterized by widespread belief in the supernatural and the irrationalwith mystics who have visions of the divine, and with entire movements of people who wait in fervent anticipation of the apocalypse.
In addition, Western culture has been the setting for repeated acts of barbarism: persecutions of certain groups such as Jews, or accused heretics and witches,
Why has this been the case
This twopart series invites you to consider what might be called the "underbelly" of Western society, a complex mixture of deeply embedded beliefs and unsettling social forces that has given rise to our greatest saints and our most shameful acts.
The "terror of history," according to Professor Teofilo F, Ruiz, is a deeply held beliefdating from the ancient Greeks to Nietzsche and beyondthat the world is essentially about disorder and emptiness, and that human beings live constantly on the edge of doom.
We see history as terrifying, so we try to escape it, One strategy is to withdraw through transcendental experiences, Another, unfortunately, is to shift our fears onto scapegoats such as lepers, nonconformists, and other outsiders whom we choose to blame for "the catastrophe of our existence," as Professor Ruiz puts it.
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