CANS 406 Lecture 9: 9. MacDonald, Spira, Pressure and Conversion
22 May 2018
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MacDonald essay: Pressure and Conversion
-As soon as Spira converted, he fell into despair and refused food, convicted that God had
forsaken him and eventually that he was possessed by the devil
-He threatened suicide and tried to kill himself
-Two of the people that counseled him converted to Protestantism and then left
-MacDonald is rethinking the history of emotions
-Since writing this, there has been a huge growth in the discipline of history of emotions,
how emotions change from social order to the next and historical periods
-This is an essay trying to develop a methodology for analyzing emotions
-Narrative is a creator of emotions, emotions take their form from narratives – especially a
conversion narrative like this
-Religious despair as a breakthrough in understanding of emotions
-In traditional Christian and Medieval thinking, despair is what religion is not – they
don’t go together
-Despair was break of faith, loss of trust, originally a sin – but as narrative grows,
religious despair changes to become what Spira underwent
-p45: “Emotionally and spiritually, [religious despair] was the very opposite of grace”
-Despair becomes an emotion towards salvation
-MacDonald’s essay goes right through to the 18th and 19th century, to Methodism
-Shows how the story goes on in many different forms
-Spira’s story has a happy ending, he finds salvation – trap becomes trial
-The trial is seen as something God would grace you with
-Conversion for Protestants involved hard emotional work – a “protracted task” (56)
-Spira’s tale helped Protestants to “work their way through to becoming different people”
-Despair as an instrument of salvation, and how pressure and heat work on us to soften us and
make us malleable to take pathways towards salvation we wouldn’t otherwise take
-E.g.: Isabella’s exchange with Angelo heats her up, she becomes more animated and more
articulate because of the heat creating pressure
-Angelo suffers this heat that rises from him – the desire for Isabella – the question is, to what
degree is this teaching him the way?
-Idea of heat and pressure always implicit in the story of Spira
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Document Summary
As soon as spira converted, he fell into despair and refused food, convicted that god had forsaken him and eventually that he was possessed by the devil. He threatened suicide and tried to kill himself. Two of the people that counseled him converted to protestantism and then left. Since writing this, there has been a huge growth in the discipline of history of emotions, how emotions change from social order to the next and historical periods. This is an essay trying to develop a methodology for analyzing emotions. Narrative is a creator of emotions, emotions take their form from narratives especially a conversion narrative like this. Religious despair as a breakthrough in understanding of emotions. In traditional christian and medieval thinking, despair is what religion is not they don"t go together. Despair was break of faith, loss of trust, originally a sin but as narrative grows, religious despair changes to become what spira underwent.
