(November 21, 2011 at 1:38 pm)downbeatplumb Wrote: Hagiography is he term for an overly reverential biography that often lapses into fantasy.
This type of thing normally relates to medieval writings on the saints and their impossible deeds but could be just as easily assigned to the new testament.
an example og hagiography is the story of st bidgit of Kldare
St bridgit of Kildare was a renowned beauty who was to be married against her will but she wished to become a nun and prayed to god to make her ugly so no man would want her, she promptly lost an eye so got her wish.
There were hundreds of this sort of pish peddled as fact an you just have to take into acount that early historians played fast and loose with the details of events, caring little for things like facts, as long as it conveyed the message they wanted to give.
Its in this light that you have to view the new testament, a document of lies written at a time when lying was the norm and most people were just too ignorant and ill educated to see it.
Saint Imelda is one of my faves.
http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=125
Now she's one of the "incorruptible".
Saint Agnes is a pretty crazy story too.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnes_of_Rome
She was my patron saint for confirmation.
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