Description
Book SynopsisExamines Hell and the Eucharist, the images and representations of salvation and perdition. The author draws on the preachers of the Counter-Reformation to show how the idea of Hell evolved. He counterpoises this with a description of the mystical virtues with which the Host was invested.
Trade Review‘This is an immensely stimulating work, vivid, full of ideas, offering suggestions that go well beyond its stricter subject matter. All scholars and students concerned with the ways the psyche has been shaped by the material doctrines of Christianity will want to read this book.’
Roy Porter, formerly director of the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine at University College, LondonTable of ContentsPart 1 Hell: the house with three floors; the doubtful eternity; scruples and "counterfeit chimeras"; the "unhappy" country; the "foul-smelling drains"; the laughing god; from the heart of the Earth to the Sun; the "comfortable life" and "weak sinners". Part 2 The host: the stolen ciborium; the "stupendous excess"; the mysterious food; in the pit of the stomach; the horror of the guts.
