"He doubted that these things actually happened": Knowing the other world in the Tractatus de Purgatorio sancti Patricii

Journal article


Barbezat, Michael. (2018). "He doubted that these things actually happened": Knowing the other world in the Tractatus de Purgatorio sancti Patricii. History of Religions. 57(4), pp. 321 - 347. https://doi.org/10.1086/696571
AuthorsBarbezat, Michael
Abstract

[Extract] The twelfth-century account of the Irish knight Owein’s descent into the otherworld through St. Patrick’s Purgatory, the Tractatus de Purgatorio sancti Patricii, distinguishes itself from many other contemporary visions by its insistence upon the embodied experience of its visionary protagonist and the epistemic value of that embodiment. In most contemporary accounts of voyages to the afterlife, visionaries traveled in spirit or saw the sights of the otherworld within their own minds. In contrast, Owein claimed he reached the afterlife differently, literally walking into it through a cave in northern Ireland.1 He then saw the otherworld “with his own bodily eyes” and endured the torments there in his own flesh.

Year2018
JournalHistory of Religions
Journal citation57 (4), pp. 321 - 347
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
ISSN1545-6935
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1086/696571
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85047501759
Page range321 - 347
Research GroupInstitute for Religion and Critical Inquiry
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File Access Level
Controlled
Place of publicationUnited States of America
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