With Monday classes, things seemed to be back to normal. Dr. Anjot was discussing the situation with French comedy prior to the career of Molière, still based largely on the medieval commedia dell’arte, and often either slapstick or vulgar or both. When he made that statement, one of the students commented that both were still very much alive and well.
“Molière did not kill them off,” Dr. Anjot conceded, “but he did provide an alternative form of humor, which prior to his time in France was pretty much restricted to the printed page.”
Bryce aked, “Some of the ancient Greek and Roman comedies were pretty slapstick and vulgar, so how does this fit into the demand of the seventeenth century that everything be based on the classics.”
Dr. Anjot replied, “You’re thinking of the satyr plays, but there were alternatives, such as Aristophanes.”
“Shame on you for thinking of the satyr plays,” Marc kidded him, as the class laughed. “Oh, and by the way, I am a grader for one of the freshman history survey classes, and I can tell you that on the class quiz over the ancient Greeks Aristophanes was identified as ‘the followers of Aristotle.’”
Dr. Anjot rolled his eyes, as the class laughed at that, as well. “I can believe almost anything,” the professor commented.
After more background on Molière, the class adjourned. Bryce made his way to his English literature class.
Dr. Drake was lecturing on Bryce’s research man, John Dryden, but not on his Religio laici. After reminding the class that the theaters reopened in 1660 after having been closed by the Puritans in 1642, Dr. Drake discoursed on the patronage of the king, Charles II, and his brother, the Duke of York, later King James II. Charles was the patron of the Drury Lane theatre, while James supported Dorset Garden. Dr. Drake then was discoursing on the variation on the classical tragedy known as the ‘heroic drama,’ as exemplified by Dryden’s The Conquest of Granada, which was first performed in 1670, and first printed in 1672. It deals with the Christian conquest of the last alien presence on the Iberian Peninsula in 1492. Most of the action takes place between rival factions among the Moors. Of note is that the prologue was originally spoken by Nell Gwyn, the mistress of King Charles. She likewise acted the role of Alimahide, the leading female part. Bryce remembered that, just a few years earlier, that same character had been the subject of the last interminable novel by the French author Madeleine de Scudéry, Almahide, ou l’esclave reine. There were so many connections everywhere. The son of Nell Gwyn by the king, Charles Beauclerk, was also born in 1670, so it was a busy year for her. That son was the ancestor of the Dukes of St. Albans, now considered one of the leading noble houses of England.
Just as Dr. Drake was launching into her analysis of the play, a cell phone went off. It sometime happened that a student forgot to silence the phone, and when it went off proceeded to do so with great embarrassment. In this instance, however, the egotistical boor whose phone it was not only was clearly not embarrassed, but began a conversation with the party calling. At that, Dr. Drake walked down the aisle, snatched the phone from the student’s hand, and tossed it out the window, which was open on the fine fall day. She said, “You, out!” and pointed to the door.
The student began to protest, both about his phone and about being ejected from the class, but the professor insisted. “It clearly states in the handouts given you at the beginning of the semester that all cell phones are to be silenced during class. I can understand forgetting on occasion, but I will not put up with such rudeness. Out!”
Still mumbling about his phone, the student left. Unfazed, Dr. Drake then took up her lecture at the point where it had been interrupted, and delivered a brilliant analysis of The Conquest of Granada.
Bryce overheard Mike Sandoval comment to Maddy Manning, “I think Dr. Drake was inspired by the battle in class as much as by the battle on the stage. The last part of class was more interesting than the first.”
“I thought so, too,” Maddy replied, “but I wasn’t sure that wasn’t just my subjective sympathy with Dr. Drake. I get so angry at rude people who interrupt everything, from church services to concerts, with their phones.”
“You have my vote on that one, too,” Bryce agreed.
Checking his mailbox, Bryce found a letter from a Rev. Thomas Hitt
of the Allen Memorial A.M.E. Church in Chicago. In response to Bryce’s earlier enquiries, he replied that Brother Carson and Sister Delilah Watson had been active and devoted members of the congregation all their lives. Carson lived from 1901 to 1989, while his wife lived from 1903 to 1995. Benny was their eldest child, and his death affected them deeply. Beyond that, there were many years of records to be gone over, and it would take a while before he could send Bryce additional information. Bryce immediately replied, sending another check to cover the expenses of having someone cull all those records for references to the Watson family.
During the remaining time before his class in Medieval England, Bryce spent some time over lunch with Damon and Caroline, and the remainder in the library. In addition to work on Jean Racine and the monastery of Port Royal, and John Dryden’s Religio laici, he was also researching the personality and career of King Richard I of England.
Dr. Dickinson lectured on this Monday on Henry II and Thomas Becket, often unnecessarily called Thomas à Becket. It was with some difficulty that some of the students grasped the medieval concept that the Church was a power equal to, or even superior to, the state. Today we are all in love with the power of the state, and simply assume its supremacy. Even though Thomas began as a friend of King Henry, and even though he accepted nomination to the Archbishopric of Canterbury reluctantly, once installed he upheld the rights of his office, despite the desires of his one-time patron. There was a significant clash between Henry and Thomas over the right of the Church to try clergy in ecclesiastical courts, and their exemption from the jurisdiction of secular courts. This was called ‘benefit of clergy,’ with the chief benefit being that canon law did not provide for capital punishment. While listening to Dr. Dickinson’s exposition, Bryce was reminded of the conversation he had with Jason Todd about the seal of the confessional. The independence of the Church is not much respected these days, with many people evidently seeing the Church as merely another private group, with only such rights as given it by the state.
Eventually, after Henry was forced by Pope Alexander III to accept Thomas back after he had been in exile, Thomas returned to England, where he continued all his former practices. He was much admired as standing up against the brute force represented by the secular power. But not by Henry. In a fit of drunken anger, Henry exclaimed, “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?” That, at least, is one version of his comment. After all, Henry spoke French. Taking this as a royal command, several knights departed for Canterbury, where they murdered the Archbishop in his cathedral. Dr. Dickinson noted that this is the subject of T.S. Eliot’s play, Murder in the Cathedral, of 1935. King Henry later did public penance at the command of the pope. This same pope canonized Thomas only a few years later. The shrine of St. Thomas of Canterbury was the most popular in all medieval England. It was the goal of Chaucer’s pilgrims. As such, it attracted considerable wealth in the form of donations. This, in turn, attracted the greed of King Henry VIII and his courtiers, who stripped the shrine and the see of much of its wealth at the time following the break with Rome.
After giving his summation, Dr. Dickinson again quoted from 1066 and All That. “It was at this time that Thomas à Belloc, the great religious leader, claimed that clergymen, whatever crimes they might commit, could not be punished at all …. Henry II, however, exclaimed to his Knights one day ‘Who will rid me of this Chesterton beast?’ Whereupon the Knights pursued Belloc and murdered him in the organ at Canterbury Cathedral.” Of course, those who knew nothing about Hilaire Belloc and G. K. Chesterton did not get the joke.
As this was not one of the Mondays when Bryce would see Father Miller, he was now free of specific obligations for the rest of the day. He texted Damon, and found that his partner was again immersed in the mysteries of Plato, and so went to the library to spend some time on his own term papers. At that time, he put aside Jean Racine and John Dryden, and focused his attention on King Richard I of England, gathering some interesting information about his travels and those of his wife, Queen Berengaria.
About five thirty he arrived back at the apartment, and found Damon as reluctant as he to eat at home, so they went to their favorite little restaurant run by the Cooper family. Melissa Cooper greeted them, as she usually did, with a friendly smile, and showed them to a table. A few moments of perusing the menus was followed by the reappearance of Melissa.
“You folks ready to order?” she asked.
“I think so. But what happened to Janie? She’s the one who usually takes the orders. I hope she’s not ill,” Bryce said.
“No, nothing like that. We’re just kind of slow today, so I told her about an hour ago to take the rest of the day off,” Melissa reported. “She liked that idea. She’s probably out with her young man right now.”
“Oh, she had a boyfriend, does she?” Damon asked.
“Yeah,” Melissa said, with an inflection which indicated some serious reservations about the boyfriend concerned.
“Not your favorite character, I gather,” Bryce pursued the matter.
“Well, I suppose I should be glad. He seems to like my girl, and he’s got a regular job. And Janie is 26, and I think she’s getting kind of desperate to start her own family,” Melissa admitted.
“So, what is it that you don’t like about the guy,” a nosy Bryce asked.
“Them tattoos,” Melissa answered right away.
“Oh, he has tattoos does he?” Damon asked.
“All over him, like a freak at the circus,” she responded heatedly. “It’s not like one or two on an arm, like some sailors I knew when I was younger. All up and down his arms, and on his neck. And during the summer, when we was at the pool, I saw that he had them all over his chest and legs as well. And his back. No self-respecting young man covers himself with all them pictures and sayings.” Melissa was clearly upset, but she shook her head, and asked, “Have you two decided what you want?”
“Yes, I think we have,” Bryce said, and gave his order, followed by Damon.
A few minutes later, Melissa reappeared with their salads. “I don’t suppose them things would be passed on to any kids,” she worried. “But it just ain’t respectable.”
“Well, I’ve never met your daughter’s boyfriend, so I can’t say anything about him,” Bryce said, “but in general I agree, tattoos, especially lots of them, are not very nice. Kind of makes you wonder what he’s trying to cover up.”
“That’s right,” Melissa said, but walked away to attend to another table.
“You really think tattoos are wrong?” Damon asked his boyfriend.
“Not wrong in any moral sense,” Bryce clarified. “Not in themselves. But like I said, I do wonder what guys like Janie’s boyfriend are trying to cover up. There has got to be something wrong in the head with someone who mutilates himself like that. I can understand rituals in a primitive tribe as some kind of rite of passage, and I guess something like that is also true of street gangs and motorcycle gangs. It’s a primitive version of pledging a fraternity. You have to go through something painful to prove your worthiness, and at the level of the dregs of society, it takes the form of tattooing with the gang insignia. That I can understand. What I cannot understand is all these entertainment figures covering themselves with tattoos. Actors, singers, athletes. What are they trying to prove? Basketball players seem the worst, but that’s probably only because you see more of them. Football players are covered up.”
“You’re really worked up. Is this really that important?” Damon asked.
“Probably not. Just another rant. But I do think it’s another indication of the decay of our society. Some of the … what did Mrs. Cooper call them? … pictures and sayings? Yeah, some of the pictures and sayings are definitely anti-social, as I see it. Another way of acting out. Another indication of being in-your-face, rejecting the values of society,” Bryce declared.
“Like what?” Damon wanted to know.
“Well, I’m pretty certain I’ve seen swastikas, and I think some satanic symbols,” Bryce enumerated. “The worst as far as words are concerned was one I saw in the gym. A guy had the words ‘God is Love’ tattooed on his cock. As far as I’m concerned, that’s sacrilege, blasphemy. Blasphemy is insulting God, and that’s definitely morally wrong, and contrary to the American values I grew up to admire.”
“I can see where that would tick you off, but what are you doing looking at some other dude’s cock?” Damon insisted.
“Not my fault, I swear,” Bryce hastened to assure his boyfriend. “He was waving it around and calling attention to it. I think he just had it done. Like I said, in-your-face.”
“Okay, you’re forgiven,” Damon grinned.
“Besides,” Bryce continued, “you have to wonder why so many people seem to hate their natural bodies. Why do they have to mutilate them like this? I think it’s part of the psychological aberrations of today’s society. It’s a kind of mental illness. Maybe even schizophrenic. Big egos on the one hand, and hatred for the natural body on the other. And all this does not even touch on the aesthetics involved. Unless someone is grossly out of shape, I think the human body is pretty nice. Especially yours.”
“I was going to come back with some objections, but when you put it that way, what can I do but agree,” Damon grinned.
Finishing their supper, and wishing Melissa good luck with her daughter, they returned to the apartment. They virtuously put in additional time on their school work, then played a video game. As they manipulated make-believe characters, Damon cautiously introduced the topic of their dinner conversation.
“I’m surprised that you don’t have a religious angle on this tattoos thing. Apart from some of the offensive slogans, I mean.”
Bryce grinned. “Now that you mention it, I guess I do.”
Damon groaned. “I should have known better.”
“Too late now,” Bryce gleefully exulted. “This reminds me of many of the early heresies. There has never been a time when the Church was without controversy. We have a built in mechanism for settling such things. It’s called a general council, and is covered in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 15. When the early Church had to decide whether to allow St. Paul’s approach to Christianity, which essentially rejected the Mosaic Law as no longer relevant with the coming of Christ, the leaders called together an assembly to decide. In Church History it’s called the Council of Jerusalem. Essentially, the leaders sided with St. Paul, and in announcing their decision to the Church at Antioch, they wrote, ‘The Holy Spirit and we have decided.’ That’s why we Catholics believe that doctrinal decisions of general councils are guided by the Holy Spirit, and are part of divine revelation.
“But, back to tattoos, and more specifically back to what I see as an aversion to the natural human body – that was a major issue during the early centuries of the Church. The ancient world was strongly influenced by dualism, that is, the idea that the body and the soul were at odds with each other. It goes back to the Persian prophet Zoroaster, around 500 B.C., who had two gods, a good god, who created all that is spiritual, and an evil god, who created all that is physical. Humans are a mixture of the two creations, but there is constant cosmic warfare between them. This idea came into the Roman world in the form of Mithradism. Mithras was the champion of the good god, and was identified with the sun. The cult of Mithras was probably the strongest rival to Christianity for centuries. But there were people who tried to bring this attitude into Christianity itself. The most obvious example is Manicheeism, in which the god of the Old Testament is the evil god, because he created the physical world, while the loving Father God of Jesus is the good god. St. Augustine of Hippo, who has been called the most influential authority in Western Christianity after the Bible, was strongly influenced by Manicheeism, to which he adhered in his youth.
“There was also the movement or attitude called Gnosticism. That comes from the Greek word ‘gnosis,’ which means something like ‘inspiration.’ There were pagan Gnostics, Jewish Gnostics, and Christian Gnostics. What all of them had in common was the belief that they had some secret knowledge that others did not have, kind of like being the chosen few, the elect of God. There are so-called Gnostic Gospels, like one attributed to the Apostle Thomas, and another attributed to St. Mary Magdalene. A professor at Princeton named Elaine Pagels has made an entire career out of the Gnostic writings. Basically, the secret knowledge the Gnostics claimed is this idea of the superiority of the spiritual, the essential baseness of the physical, and the inescapable clash between them.
“But even more mainstream forms of early Christianity were influenced by this outlook. We have Arianism, which could not accept God the Son as equal to God the Father because Jesus had a physical body. And there was Nestorianism, which could not accept that Mary was the Mother of God, as she was human, with a physical body. She was, they said, only the mother of the human Jesus, separating Christ into conflicting halves. There was Adoptionism, which said Jesus was simply the son of Mary and Joseph, but at the baptism in the Jordan the spirit of God entered him, and led him during his public life, but departed at the time of the Agony in the Garden, because God could not suffer, and the physical body on the cross was only the human Jesus. There were some others. But all of these have in common an attitude which says the physical is somehow evil, or at least incompatible with goodness, with divinity, with the ultimate good.
“It was a long struggle, and not without some influence of the dualists on mainstream Christianity, but time after time the Church eventually decided against them. At the Council of Nicaea, the Church insisted that God the Son was equal to God the Father. At the Council of Ephesus, the Church insisted that Mary was the mother of the whole person of Christ, and thus was due the title Mother of God. And so on. So, you see, it’s an old fight. And yes, there is a religious dimension to just about everything.”
Damon then proposed, “I’m ready to put in some time admiring the human body. How about you?”