Why is the sky blue? On reason is to remind us that our Blessed Lady has her mantle spread over us in loving protection. At least it reminds me and hopefully now whoever reads this.
Thank you for this, Father. Just as the saints and doctors find a diverse treasury of allegorical meanings in Scripture, the symbolic meanings that we can discover in the Book of Nature are rich and diverse.
Rephrasing the question as you have done, turns the whole world inside out. It’s so liberating to feel the creative soul within nature as opposed to staring outwards barred from the world’s life by heady misconceptions. My eyes will feast on blue today. Gracias.
Fabulous. What a great organization of the information. Especially the How/Why part. And it's enjoyable to read about your youthful memories. Isn't it interesting how certain things from our way past stay with us. That means something, too.
I have a memory of my schooldays too: sitting in class in an English lesson, aged 13 or so, while the teacher read to us an extract from Tennyson's Mort d'Arthur. I have never forgotten the line 'More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.' Over the intervening 65 years it has mysteriously entered my mind at the right moment, when my Faith is wavering and I need spiritual reassurance.
Thank you for this comment Francis, and let us behold the power of good poetry! The way that a well-crafted poetic phrase can resonate in our souls—for years, decades, even a lifetime—is truly marvelous.
Hello Mr Keim, I wanted to post a comment on your first Angel post, wherein you provided an audio version. However, I saw no option for comments, this happened with the post just previous to this one. Maybe I am being technically stupid, but could you check if there is something amiss? I also tried starting a chat, but could not find that option either. Anyway, I very much liked the audio version and hope you can continue that whenever you have time. You have many gifts, and speech is one of them. God have those gifts to be used, so I thank you for sharing them with us. I very much appreciate all of them! God bless!
Another reader alerted me to the comments problem, which I just fixed—the comments were disabled and I have no idea why. They're enabled now. Please do add a comment to that post if you're so inclined! And thank you for the positive feedback on the voiceover; I really believe in the power of the spoken word and enjoy bringing that vocal experience into our Via Mediaevalis discussions.
I’m a second year PhD student currently working on my reading list before jumping into my dissertation, and I would love to find some additional scholarly sources on this topic! Do you have any to recommend?
I am pleased to meet you! To my knowledge, there are not many scholarly sources that specifically address medieval symbolism in the manifestations that I am exploring here. Erich Auerbach’s “Figura,” for example, is an important work, but it operates more in the literary/philological domain; one scholar summarized it thus: “it takes a single word, figura, and studies the transformations in its meaning from its earliest occurrences in Latin literature down to its final deployment by Dante Alighieri.” Another scholarly work is The Theory of Medieval Symbolism by Johan Chydenius; my university library has it, but my impression is that very few people have read it. I also have not read it. If you have a chance to read it, please let me know what you find! Gerhart Ladner’s “Medieval and Modern Understanding of Symbolism: A Comparison” also diverges from what I’m considering here, but it is relevant and I recommend it; he does explore what he calls the “the symbolic world view of the Middle Ages” and affirms that “medieval symbols have a definite place in ... consecrated nature.” He agrees with me in observing that “the richness of medieval symbolism is overwhelming.”
Here are some key texts:
The Meaning of Blue, by Luke Bell – This is not the sort of book you would find in a university library, but as I recall it is an intelligent and well-researched work. I read it years ago and remember very little from it beyond the essential message, which I believe is also the essential message conveyed by my essay.
The Symbolism of Medieval Churches, by Mark Spurrell – This is an excellent book: well researched, highly informative, highly readable; the author is an independent scholar with a doctorate.
Beyond this, much of my knowledge of medieval symbolism comes from primary sources and from synthesizing bits and pieces of information in other secondary sources. Some of these are listed below, but keep in mind that symbolism is not a principal topic, maybe not even a prominent topic, in these works:
Allegorical Poetics and the Epic: The Renaissance Tradition to Paradise Lost (Part 1), by Mindele Anne Treip
Only the Lover Sings, by Josef Pieper
Wonderful Blood (just the Introduction), by Caroline Bynum
The Celtic and Roman Traditions (Chapter One), by Caitlin Corning
Twentieth-Century Literary Theory: A Reader, edited by K. M. Newton
As that last entry suggests, modern and postmodern theorists have, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, been really important for me. Semiotics is a great field for thinking deeply about symbolic realities. If I had to recommend one scholar here, I would choose Roland Barthes, especially his The Semiotic Challenge, which probably did quite a bit to change the way I think about literature and the literary qualities of human life.
What are some of the primary texts on your reading list?
Thank you SO much for writing all of this out for me! I cannot wait to dig into these texts. As an undergraduate student, I had the privilege of working with some of the best Christian scholars in the region, and they put me in the paths of others who were lovers of God's goodness, truth, and beauty. Now that I am in a secular university, it has been a challenge to find scholars to emulate who share my faith. Substack has helped me find writers like you.
What originally put me onto this topic of symbolism (and more specifically iconography) was a massive tome by Thomas Pfau titled Incomprehensible Certainty: Metaphysics and Hermeneutics of the Image. Actually, he merely reawakened that topic for me after leaving it behind in my undergrad program, and he took it to a much deeper level. I highly recommend the book; his discussion takes you from the ancient era all the way through today, and it is truly a remarkable book I think all literature and history students should read.
For my primary texts, the list is essentially all of the key works of Irish literature from the Middle Ages. Some recent highlights have been the Acallam na Senórach (Tales of the Elders of Ireland, tr. by Dooley and Roe), The Cauldron of Poesy, Tochmarch Étaín (The Wooing of Étaín). The Cambridge History of Irish Literature has been my starting point in putting together a reading list, just the chapters up till the year 1600.
Thank you again for sharing these sources! It has put some needed wind in my sails.
This all sounds wonderful, and thank you for the recommendation of the Pfau book. I'm afraid I'll be of no help with the medieval Irish literature—it's outside my specialization and I've never read any of it! (Part of the reason for that is my location; pre-modern Irish literature is not exactly a high priority for English departments in the USA.) Good luck with your reading, and keep in touch!
I’ve begun to think of the Earth, far from being just one of a billion planets with no particular purpose, making its way around an insignificant sun, as the center of the universe. A universe which was created as gift for Christ and as gift for us, in order to have words and images to describe that which is indescribable. I probe my mind then and see how that inversion changes how I see myself—just a collection of random atoms—or a being made for something higher. Oh, to grasp the heavens and earth with a medieval mind!
Beautifully said, Katherine—if we look at the world differently, we see ourselves differently. If we understand the material universe as rich in symbolic meanings and higher purposes, we more intuitively understand that we also are "made for something higher." I am not an astronomer and have no intention of arguing with astronomers about astronomy. But I've reached the point where it just doesn't matter very much. In my life, spiritual and poetic realities take precedence, and the earth is undoubtedly in the center of my spiritual and poetic universe.
Fantastic, thank you. I like reading about those moments when something strikes and just blows one's mind, or even makes one slightly change trajectory. I haven't thought about it like this, but when I was nine years old, I had a terrific primary school teacher, who would give us all sorts of long and demanding projects, and one of them was to write a booklet about the medieval times. I found it so immersive and enchanting, and it just cracked something open for me. Something that have been missing and seaching for ever since, because it's well hidden and hard to find as not completely misrepresented. So thank you for bringing it to light here, piece by piece.
As I was reading this post, I heard in my head playing:
Lovely reflections, thank you Barbora. I really like the way you described what we're trying to do here at Via Mediaevalis: illuminating the medieval world for modern eyes, "piece by piece."
What a beautiful and needed series you gave us on symbols. Thank you! I like what Father pointed out too about Mary’s blue mantle, which very much ties into the symbol of the blue sky.
Yeah, thanks for writing it. I actually shared it with a group of my friends. We’ve been discussing realism vs. nominalism and I thought this essay is such a great piece to contribute to our discussion.
Thanks for sharing it, and I agree, though I didn't emphasize philosophical terminology in this series of articles, this discussion of symbolism in the "Book of Nature" does intersect with the Realism vs. Nominalism debate. My impression is that Nominalism has a bad reputation in Christian circles, but I think that this is Nominalism in the more modern sense. Nominalism in the Neo-Platonic sense existed in the Middle Ages and was not, as far as I know, perceived as seriously injurious to Christian belief. Nominalism was less common than Neo-Platonic Realism, though.
This is exactly the approach that my mission work takes as we lead people on pilgrimage: the Created World is a world of symbols and meaning, and everywhere serves as the first and some of the easiest rungs of the ladder up to God. Some friends have also begun a project writing a dictionary where things are all defined in the way you’ve explained “why” some things exist. Mountains? They’re for getting closer to speak with God, and etc etc
Wonderful—I'm delighted to hear that you are engaged in this sort of work, Ryan. The symbology of the material universe is fertile ground for evangelization, and it's also something that is sorely lacking in modern communities and lifestyles.
Why is the sky blue? On reason is to remind us that our Blessed Lady has her mantle spread over us in loving protection. At least it reminds me and hopefully now whoever reads this.
Thank you for this, Father. Just as the saints and doctors find a diverse treasury of allegorical meanings in Scripture, the symbolic meanings that we can discover in the Book of Nature are rich and diverse.
As I was reading the essay, your answer to that question was the one that came up in my mind as well. What a happy thought 🙏
Thank you!
Rephrasing the question as you have done, turns the whole world inside out. It’s so liberating to feel the creative soul within nature as opposed to staring outwards barred from the world’s life by heady misconceptions. My eyes will feast on blue today. Gracias.
You're very welcome, and I agree, in the context of modern culture I really think this is a liberating and "world inside-out" sort of experience.
Fabulous. What a great organization of the information. Especially the How/Why part. And it's enjoyable to read about your youthful memories. Isn't it interesting how certain things from our way past stay with us. That means something, too.
Yes, our memories are mysterious and wonderful things!
I have a memory of my schooldays too: sitting in class in an English lesson, aged 13 or so, while the teacher read to us an extract from Tennyson's Mort d'Arthur. I have never forgotten the line 'More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of.' Over the intervening 65 years it has mysteriously entered my mind at the right moment, when my Faith is wavering and I need spiritual reassurance.
Thank you for this comment Francis, and let us behold the power of good poetry! The way that a well-crafted poetic phrase can resonate in our souls—for years, decades, even a lifetime—is truly marvelous.
Hello Mr Keim, I wanted to post a comment on your first Angel post, wherein you provided an audio version. However, I saw no option for comments, this happened with the post just previous to this one. Maybe I am being technically stupid, but could you check if there is something amiss? I also tried starting a chat, but could not find that option either. Anyway, I very much liked the audio version and hope you can continue that whenever you have time. You have many gifts, and speech is one of them. God have those gifts to be used, so I thank you for sharing them with us. I very much appreciate all of them! God bless!
Another reader alerted me to the comments problem, which I just fixed—the comments were disabled and I have no idea why. They're enabled now. Please do add a comment to that post if you're so inclined! And thank you for the positive feedback on the voiceover; I really believe in the power of the spoken word and enjoy bringing that vocal experience into our Via Mediaevalis discussions.
I’m a second year PhD student currently working on my reading list before jumping into my dissertation, and I would love to find some additional scholarly sources on this topic! Do you have any to recommend?
I am pleased to meet you! To my knowledge, there are not many scholarly sources that specifically address medieval symbolism in the manifestations that I am exploring here. Erich Auerbach’s “Figura,” for example, is an important work, but it operates more in the literary/philological domain; one scholar summarized it thus: “it takes a single word, figura, and studies the transformations in its meaning from its earliest occurrences in Latin literature down to its final deployment by Dante Alighieri.” Another scholarly work is The Theory of Medieval Symbolism by Johan Chydenius; my university library has it, but my impression is that very few people have read it. I also have not read it. If you have a chance to read it, please let me know what you find! Gerhart Ladner’s “Medieval and Modern Understanding of Symbolism: A Comparison” also diverges from what I’m considering here, but it is relevant and I recommend it; he does explore what he calls the “the symbolic world view of the Middle Ages” and affirms that “medieval symbols have a definite place in ... consecrated nature.” He agrees with me in observing that “the richness of medieval symbolism is overwhelming.”
Here are some key texts:
The Meaning of Blue, by Luke Bell – This is not the sort of book you would find in a university library, but as I recall it is an intelligent and well-researched work. I read it years ago and remember very little from it beyond the essential message, which I believe is also the essential message conveyed by my essay.
The Symbolism of Medieval Churches, by Mark Spurrell – This is an excellent book: well researched, highly informative, highly readable; the author is an independent scholar with a doctorate.
Beyond this, much of my knowledge of medieval symbolism comes from primary sources and from synthesizing bits and pieces of information in other secondary sources. Some of these are listed below, but keep in mind that symbolism is not a principal topic, maybe not even a prominent topic, in these works:
Allegorical Poetics and the Epic: The Renaissance Tradition to Paradise Lost (Part 1), by Mindele Anne Treip
Only the Lover Sings, by Josef Pieper
Wonderful Blood (just the Introduction), by Caroline Bynum
The Celtic and Roman Traditions (Chapter One), by Caitlin Corning
Twentieth-Century Literary Theory: A Reader, edited by K. M. Newton
As that last entry suggests, modern and postmodern theorists have, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, been really important for me. Semiotics is a great field for thinking deeply about symbolic realities. If I had to recommend one scholar here, I would choose Roland Barthes, especially his The Semiotic Challenge, which probably did quite a bit to change the way I think about literature and the literary qualities of human life.
What are some of the primary texts on your reading list?
Thank you SO much for writing all of this out for me! I cannot wait to dig into these texts. As an undergraduate student, I had the privilege of working with some of the best Christian scholars in the region, and they put me in the paths of others who were lovers of God's goodness, truth, and beauty. Now that I am in a secular university, it has been a challenge to find scholars to emulate who share my faith. Substack has helped me find writers like you.
What originally put me onto this topic of symbolism (and more specifically iconography) was a massive tome by Thomas Pfau titled Incomprehensible Certainty: Metaphysics and Hermeneutics of the Image. Actually, he merely reawakened that topic for me after leaving it behind in my undergrad program, and he took it to a much deeper level. I highly recommend the book; his discussion takes you from the ancient era all the way through today, and it is truly a remarkable book I think all literature and history students should read.
For my primary texts, the list is essentially all of the key works of Irish literature from the Middle Ages. Some recent highlights have been the Acallam na Senórach (Tales of the Elders of Ireland, tr. by Dooley and Roe), The Cauldron of Poesy, Tochmarch Étaín (The Wooing of Étaín). The Cambridge History of Irish Literature has been my starting point in putting together a reading list, just the chapters up till the year 1600.
Thank you again for sharing these sources! It has put some needed wind in my sails.
This all sounds wonderful, and thank you for the recommendation of the Pfau book. I'm afraid I'll be of no help with the medieval Irish literature—it's outside my specialization and I've never read any of it! (Part of the reason for that is my location; pre-modern Irish literature is not exactly a high priority for English departments in the USA.) Good luck with your reading, and keep in touch!
I’ve begun to think of the Earth, far from being just one of a billion planets with no particular purpose, making its way around an insignificant sun, as the center of the universe. A universe which was created as gift for Christ and as gift for us, in order to have words and images to describe that which is indescribable. I probe my mind then and see how that inversion changes how I see myself—just a collection of random atoms—or a being made for something higher. Oh, to grasp the heavens and earth with a medieval mind!
Beautifully said, Katherine—if we look at the world differently, we see ourselves differently. If we understand the material universe as rich in symbolic meanings and higher purposes, we more intuitively understand that we also are "made for something higher." I am not an astronomer and have no intention of arguing with astronomers about astronomy. But I've reached the point where it just doesn't matter very much. In my life, spiritual and poetic realities take precedence, and the earth is undoubtedly in the center of my spiritual and poetic universe.
Fantastic, thank you. I like reading about those moments when something strikes and just blows one's mind, or even makes one slightly change trajectory. I haven't thought about it like this, but when I was nine years old, I had a terrific primary school teacher, who would give us all sorts of long and demanding projects, and one of them was to write a booklet about the medieval times. I found it so immersive and enchanting, and it just cracked something open for me. Something that have been missing and seaching for ever since, because it's well hidden and hard to find as not completely misrepresented. So thank you for bringing it to light here, piece by piece.
As I was reading this post, I heard in my head playing:
There is no rose of such virtue
As is the rose that bare Jesu;
Alleluia
For in this rose contained was
Heaven and earth in little space;
Res miranda.
By that rose we may well see
That He is God in persons three,
Pari forma.
Lovely reflections, thank you Barbora. I really like the way you described what we're trying to do here at Via Mediaevalis: illuminating the medieval world for modern eyes, "piece by piece."
What a beautiful and needed series you gave us on symbols. Thank you! I like what Father pointed out too about Mary’s blue mantle, which very much ties into the symbol of the blue sky.
This was a fun article which forces us to look at everything with How, and Why!!!
This was a fun article...which helps us look at everything in a different way!
Beautiful and hopeful, thank you🙏✝️💖
You're welcome!
Thank you
Amazing. I kinda wish I had written this myself, but you certainly did a better job than I would have.
So glad you enjoyed the article, Levi! Thank you for commenting.
Yeah, thanks for writing it. I actually shared it with a group of my friends. We’ve been discussing realism vs. nominalism and I thought this essay is such a great piece to contribute to our discussion.
Thanks for sharing it, and I agree, though I didn't emphasize philosophical terminology in this series of articles, this discussion of symbolism in the "Book of Nature" does intersect with the Realism vs. Nominalism debate. My impression is that Nominalism has a bad reputation in Christian circles, but I think that this is Nominalism in the more modern sense. Nominalism in the Neo-Platonic sense existed in the Middle Ages and was not, as far as I know, perceived as seriously injurious to Christian belief. Nominalism was less common than Neo-Platonic Realism, though.
This is exactly the approach that my mission work takes as we lead people on pilgrimage: the Created World is a world of symbols and meaning, and everywhere serves as the first and some of the easiest rungs of the ladder up to God. Some friends have also begun a project writing a dictionary where things are all defined in the way you’ve explained “why” some things exist. Mountains? They’re for getting closer to speak with God, and etc etc
Wonderful—I'm delighted to hear that you are engaged in this sort of work, Ryan. The symbology of the material universe is fertile ground for evangelization, and it's also something that is sorely lacking in modern communities and lifestyles.
Amen, and may we all work to change that tragic truth