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Melioramentum - Katarismens teologiska syn på och rituella konstruktion av hierarkier

Karlsson, Jakob LU (2024) KRMK10 20232
Centre for Theology and Religious Studies
Joint Faculties of Humanities and Theology
Abstract
This thesis aims to shed light upon the cathar church and its expression of power and hierarchy in their rituals, such as the consolamentum, in conjunction with their theological view of said power and hierarchy. With a hermeneutic theory and a text analysis I read and aim to examine the cathars' own texts in its own context. Through my reading of their theological and ritual texts. I make the interpretation of a theology that focuses on the ”good” people and the ”evil” people, in which the good people are people with souls that used to be angels, before they were cast out of heaven due to them being corrupted by the devil. The bad people are the ones that have the souls of the devil's own angels, demons. The only way to return to heaven... (More)
This thesis aims to shed light upon the cathar church and its expression of power and hierarchy in their rituals, such as the consolamentum, in conjunction with their theological view of said power and hierarchy. With a hermeneutic theory and a text analysis I read and aim to examine the cathars' own texts in its own context. Through my reading of their theological and ritual texts. I make the interpretation of a theology that focuses on the ”good” people and the ”evil” people, in which the good people are people with souls that used to be angels, before they were cast out of heaven due to them being corrupted by the devil. The bad people are the ones that have the souls of the devil's own angels, demons. The only way to return to heaven and regain the angelic status is through the spiritual baptism taught by Jesus Chirst, namely the consolamentum. The ritual texts make it clear, in my view, that it is only through the rite of consolamentum that
salvation is possible, and it is only the ones who have already undergone the consolamentum, called the perfecti, that can give it to others. The perfecti and the leading perfectus who is
leading the rite, called the ordinatus, are the ones that hold the power to decide who is to receive the consolamentum. They also have the power to pray the Lord's prayer and the ordinatus has the
power to act on behalf of the congregation and as God's deputy. It is also towards the ordinatus that the others bow and say ”bless us, have mercy upon us” three times, a rite called the melioramentum. All this, I argue, adds up to a hierarchy that is made up by the holy and the
unholy. The ones who have regained their angelic status have also regained their holiness meanwhile the believers who have not yet undergone the consolamentum remain part of the material evil world and are forced into a dependent relationship with the perfecti, since it is they who have the power to administer salvation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Karlsson, Jakob LU
supervisor
organization
course
KRMK10 20232
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
consolamentum, melioramentum, cathars, catharism, dualism, gnosticism, hierarchy, power, rituals, theology.
language
Swedish
id
9144632
date added to LUP
2024-05-27 09:08:28
date last changed
2024-05-27 09:08:28
@misc{9144632,
  abstract     = {{This thesis aims to shed light upon the cathar church and its expression of power and hierarchy in their rituals, such as the consolamentum, in conjunction with their theological view of said power and hierarchy. With a hermeneutic theory and a text analysis I read and aim to examine the cathars' own texts in its own context. Through my reading of their theological and ritual texts. I make the interpretation of a theology that focuses on the ”good” people and the ”evil” people, in which the good people are people with souls that used to be angels, before they were cast out of heaven due to them being corrupted by the devil. The bad people are the ones that have the souls of the devil's own angels, demons. The only way to return to heaven and regain the angelic status is through the spiritual baptism taught by Jesus Chirst, namely the consolamentum. The ritual texts make it clear, in my view, that it is only through the rite of consolamentum that
salvation is possible, and it is only the ones who have already undergone the consolamentum, called the perfecti, that can give it to others. The perfecti and the leading perfectus who is
leading the rite, called the ordinatus, are the ones that hold the power to decide who is to receive the consolamentum. They also have the power to pray the Lord's prayer and the ordinatus has the
power to act on behalf of the congregation and as God's deputy. It is also towards the ordinatus that the others bow and say ”bless us, have mercy upon us” three times, a rite called the melioramentum. All this, I argue, adds up to a hierarchy that is made up by the holy and the
unholy. The ones who have regained their angelic status have also regained their holiness meanwhile the believers who have not yet undergone the consolamentum remain part of the material evil world and are forced into a dependent relationship with the perfecti, since it is they who have the power to administer salvation.}},
  author       = {{Karlsson, Jakob}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Melioramentum - Katarismens teologiska syn på och rituella konstruktion av hierarkier}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}