Daily Archives: 21 September 2015

Dr Anna Corrias and Dr Naama Cohen-Hanegbi, University of Sydney Lectures

The ARC Centre for Excellence for the History of the Emotions, presents:

“The Mental Dimension of Pain in the Life and Writings of Girolamo Cardano (1501-1576),” Dr Anna Corrias (Princeton University)

“Leading the way to Pain: The Cure of Contrition in Manipulus Curatorum,”  Dr Naama Cohen-Hanegbi (Tel Aviv University)

When: Monday, September 28, 12-2pm
Location: Rogers Room, Woolley Building, The University of Sydney
Enquiries: craig.lyons@sydney.edu.au

This paper will look at the relationship between physical and mental pain in the life and writings of Girolamo Cardano, one of the most fascinating figures of the Italian Renaissance. Physician and natural philosopher — among many other things — Cardano wrote extensively about pain, describing the complex relationship between pain and fear, the interplay of the external and the internal senses in the perception of suffering, the therapeutic dimension of pain as a cure for anxiety, and even the epistemological potential of physical pain.

Anna Corrias did her PhD in Combined Historical Studies at the Warburg Institute, University of London. In 2015-2016 she is a postdoctoral fellow at the Seeger Centre for Hellenic Studies
at Princeton University and a British Academy postdoctoral fellow at University College, London. She has published articles on the reception of the classical tradition in the Renaissance and
is currently working on her first monograph, entitled The Plotinian Soul: The Renaissance of Plotinus in Marsilio Ficino’s commentary on the Enneads. She is also editing, together with
Guido Giglioni, the Brill Companion to Medieval and Renaissance Platonism. Both books will be published in 2016.

 

 

This paper will discuss the articulation of contrition as dolor animi in the 14th-century treatise written by Guido de Monte Rocherii. The treatise presents the orthodox view of the time on contrition and so allows us to consider the fundamental ideas communicated to priests and laity with regard to this particular emotional state. As contrition was developed in the period as the medicine for sin, this paper will reflect on the convergence of medical language and pastoral care. Among the questions that will be considered are: how does the flesh and physicality define the pain of contrition? In what ways are the medicinal components of contrition are defined? What does the metaphor of the priest as the physician contribute to this development of thinking about contrition and confession?

Naama Cohen-Hanegbi is a lecturer in the History Department of Tel Aviv University. She has published articles on the medical and religious treatment of emotions and on medicine within
inter-religious encounters, and is currently preparing a manuscript entitled Practices of Care: Medical and Pastoral Writings on the Accidents of the Soul, 1200-1500.

ANZAMEMS Member News: Roberta Kwan – Thoughts on the 10th ANZAMEMS Conference @ UQ, July 2015

Roberta Kwan, Doctoral Candidate, Macquarie University

ANZAMEMS 2015 report

It was at the 2012 ANZAMEMS-sponsored PATS workshop at the University of Otago that I was helped to develop a deeper understanding of the necessarily interdisciplinary nature of research in the early modern period. While, as a literature student writing a PhD on Shakespeare and Reformation theology, I knew that my project sits somewhat at the intersection of literature and theology, I didn’t appreciate the breadth of knowledge from a range of other disciplines I would also require. I departed from the workshop with some constructive approaches to my project, and a lot of work to do.

That was in the first year of my PhD candidature. Nearing its end (hopefully) I was especially looking forward to the opportunity to hear from scholars across a range of disciplines at this year’s ANZAMEMS, including some people I met at the 2012 PATS. I enjoyed hearing Barnaby Ralph range across a number of disciplines in showing how the employment of humoral theory shifted from the medical to the artistic realm, and found Alexandra Walsham’s lecture particularly beneficial. The abundant and intriguing images she presented and discussed gave a rich sense of the material culture of the Reformation, and how the Reformation narrative was remembered by everyday English men and women. As Professor Walsham argued, the presence of theologically- and religiously-derived images on household items for both ideological and commemorative purposes provides evidence that nuances the widely-held perception of the reformers as unreservedly iconoclastic. This was an insight I found almost immediately relevant for my project. I was also pleased to see Shakespeare make several appearances in the programme, and to have the opportunity to hear some thought-provoking papers on various plays and aspects of performance.

I would like to thank the organisers of this year’s conference for putting together a stimulating, interdisciplinary programme. Thank you also to ANZAMEMS for supporting postgrad students, financially and otherwise—this was the second occasion in which I have been a grateful recipient.