Cannibalism in the Colonies

[lperry]

Interesting new work from Jamestown.

[DonRocks]

Interesting new work from Jamestown.

I read this earlier, but couldn't discern if 14-year-old Jane of Jamestown was eaten alive or after she had passed. (I suppose that even with cannibalism, it makes no sense, absent some odd religious rite, to consume the victim while still alive.) Also, whether she died of natural causes, or was slaughtered to be consumed. Is there any way to know this, given current information? There is at least one case cited of a man murdering his wife, and curing her flesh for future meals. Area Charcutiers, eat your heart ou... oops, better yet, don't.

Saludos,

Corazón (¿Aquí, no?)

[lperry]

The key issue brought up at the end of the news bite is that the work is not yet published. I imagine all the pertinent details are being held for peer review.

Cannibalism is interesting, as is symbolic cannibalism. Communion, anyone?

[Barbara]

The key issue brought up at the end of the news bite is that the work is not yet published. I imagine all the pertinent details are being held for peer review.

Thanks for pointing this out. I spent seven years at Science magazine, in a low-level position, but learned to not pay attention to what the media reported without knowing which peer-reviewed publication (if any) was reporting any particular "finding." I just wish everybody knew how to "read into" the dramatic stuff that gets the headlines. After 25 years, any mention of The Lancet causes Dame Edna to give me the evil eye (he had to listen to a boatload of stuff I used to bring home).

[DanielK]

Thanks for pointing this out. I spent seven years at Science magazine, in a low-level position, but learned to not pay attention to what the media reported without knowing which peer-reviewed publication (if any) was reporting any particular "finding." I just wish everybody knew how to "read into" the dramatic stuff that gets the headlines. After 25 years, any mention of The Lancet causes Dame Edna to give me the evil eye (he had to listen to a boatload of stuff I used to bring home).

That's ok, because you may not have to worry about peer-review much longer.

[dcs]

Maybe the dingo ate her....

[lperry]

That's ok, because you may not have to worry about peer-review much longer.

I read about this bill online. I can't believe it will pass, but I have difficulty understanding why many bills pass.

More on Jamestown in this morning's paper.

[Barbara]

That's ok, because you may not have to worry about peer-review much longer.

This will most likely die in the Senate (I hope). With any luck, those idiots on the House Science Committee will get publicly schooled

[SeanMike]

I read this earlier, but couldn't discern if 14-year-old Jane of Jamestown was eaten alive or after she had passed.

When they talked about the wounds in the WaPo article, it was briefly mentioned that the butchering appeared to happen after she was dead, as there were no signs of a struggle.

The cause of her death isn’t known. The tentative cuts to the front of

the skull and the deeper ones to the back are close together — evidence

that she was dead, not squirming, when they were made.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/skeleton-of-teenage-girl-confirms-cannibalism-at-jamestown-colony/2013/05/01/5af5b474-b1dc-11e2-9a98-4be1688d7d84_story.html?tid=pm_pop

[MsDiPesto]

Well, now you know why Virginia has those silly "Kids First" license plates.

[Rieux]

Someone beat MsDiPesto to it!

http://jalopnik.com/5724684/virginia-dmv-revokes-worlds-greatest-license-plate

Some language NSFW

[tfbrennan]

Nice placement of these topics...

[lperry]

Ugh. Living in a society where weight loss is a significant health-related goal, I can't help but feel incredibly lucky and grateful never to have known what hunger really is.

[MsDiPesto]

Someone beat MsDiPesto to it!

http://jalopnik.com/5724684/virginia-dmv-revokes-worlds-greatest-license-plate

Some language NSFW

I used to see that license plate around a lot before it was revoked for bizarre reasons. That's what was in my mind when I posted.

[The Hersch]

The key issue brought up at the end of the news bite is that the work is not yet published. I imagine all the pertinent details are being held for peer review.

Cannibalism is interesting, as is symbolic cannibalism. Communion, anyone?

You know, there was a time when suggesting that the Eucharist was merely symbolic cannibalism could get you burned at the stake. Now you may go unbarbecued, but are still guilty of heresy according to the Roman church.

[lperry]

You know, there was a time when suggesting that the Eucharist was merely symbolic cannibalism could get you burned at the stake. Now you may go unbarbecued, but are still guilty of heresy according to the Roman church.

It's not the first time, and it probably will not be the last.

[Anna Blume]

It's not the first time, and it probably will not be the last.

This post is written with caution, hoping that a discussion that involves late medieval theology vs. contemporary religion will not offend. The following offers a scholarly perspective only and does not represent personal belief.

References are to a recent sequence of posts that I was unable to excerpt, thus the solitary quote above that lacks the phrase "symbolic cannibalism" in describing the Eucharist.

As part of a very long process of centralizing ecclesiastical authority and proclaiming the power of ordained clergy, the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) declared Transubstantiation as official doctrine. As decreed by the Western Church, priests brought the Real Presence of Christ into the church during the Eucharist. Liturgy changed so that the celebrant no longer faced the congregation: a means to increase the mystery of the Mass. As he raised the Eucharistic Host above his head, that circle of bread was literally transformed into divine flesh.

Three centuries later, a major breach occurred in the Western Church over this issue. New forms of Christianity in Northern Europe separated themselves from the Roman See, in part, by viewing the Eucharistic Host as a symbol and liturgy merely as a nexus of symbols and signs, most superfluous and suspect.

However, in the thirteenth century, when you ate the Eucharistic Host, you ate Christ. Literally. When you drank from the lifted chalice, you drank His blood. Literally.

The term "cannibalism" cannot be used to describe these acts since The Western Church subscribed to the same belief that one could find in the powerful Eastern Church of Byzantium: while God became human at the time of the Incarnation, He was always both human and divine. Thus the Latin word, "Christus" (derived from the Greek word used in Byzantium) that stresses the divinity of the central figure of Christian faith and distinguishes him from mere human beings. Therefore, those who upheld the doctrine of Transubstantiation did not believe they were cannibals when they ate the Host.

[lperry]

^ The modern discussion is quite fascinating. Even scratching the surface with a quick web search on "communion and symbolic cannibalism" will bring up a plethora of articles by authors ranging from concerned people who believe it is a satanic practice, to those who still adhere to the tenets of transubstantiation. The best communion-related story I've heard is from a Catholic student of mine who, with a group of childhood friends, used to sneak into the nuns' kitchen and steal trays of freshly-baked host for snacking. I was assured that all had been confessed and forgiven, and, after all, it's not divine flesh until it gets blessed during the service. Fascinating.

[deangold]

I feel that all my acts that would have me decried a heretic, from loving Tim Minchin's Pope song to my belief of Quantum Loop Gravity and the non need of boundary conditions to my preaching the gospel of Dan Savage to... well lets just say that my sense of self preseravtion are such that I won't list any further {after all, Kay does say that I have to sleep sometimes see so shallow and unresearched!

[dcs]

^ The modern discussion is quite fascinating. Even scratching the surface with a quick web search on "communion and symbolic cannibalism" will bring up a plethora of articles by authors ranging from concerned people who believe it is a satanic practice, to those who still adhere to the tenets of transubstantiation. The best communion-related story I've heard is from a Catholic student of mine who, with a group of childhood friends, used to sneak into the nuns' kitchen and steal trays of freshly-baked host for snacking. I was assured that all had been confessed and forgiven, and, after all, it's not divine flesh until it gets blessed during the service. Fascinating.

Freshly-baked hosts? When I was an altar boy we filled the Chalice with massed produced hosts plucked from a plastic bag that was stored in the box they were presumably shipped in to the church; and that is exactly how they tasted. Maybe I would be more observant today if they served fresh-baked hosts. Don't get me talking about when we used to get into the wine.

[The Hersch]

The term "cannibalism" cannot be used to describe these acts since The Western Church subscribed to the same belief that one could find in the powerful Eastern Church of Byzantium: while God became human at the time of the Incarnation, He was always both human and divine. Thus the Latin word, "Christus" (derived from the Greek word used in Byzantium) that stresses the divinity of the central figure of Christian faith and distinguishes him from mere human beings. Therefore, those who upheld the doctrine of Transubstantiation did not believe they were cannibals when they ate the Host.

I'm not sure I buy this theology. As I understand Christian doctrine (and I am not a Christian), an essential element of the concept of the Christ is that He is both perfectly God and perfectly Man. If the body and blood of Christ are literally present in the wafer and the wine, then the communicant is literally eating and drinking the flesh and blood of a man, which is kind of classic cannibalism. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[lperry]

Cannibalism and age / gender discrimination.