religions Article The Ascetic Measure: A New Category for the Philosophical Analysis of Self-Inflicted Pain as an Expression of Love for God Roni Naor Hofri   Citation: Naor Hofri, Roni. 2021. The Ascetic Measure: A New Category for the Philosophical Analysis of Self-Inflicted Pain as an Expression of Love for God. Religions 12: 120. https://doi.org/10.3390/ rel12020120 Received: 31 December 2020 Accepted: 10 February 2021 Published: 14 February 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). School of Philosophy, Tel AvivUniversity, Tel Aviv6997801, Israel; naorron@post.tau.ac.il Abstract: The paper identifies the measure of pain monastic Christian ascetics in medieval central Europe inflicted on themselves to express the right measure of love for God. I ask whether the measure of pain had significance; whether a ratio existed between the measure of pain ascetics experienced and the measure of love they expressed; how self-inflicted painful acts enabled the epistemic achievement of expressing the right measure of love for God; what made the right measure such; and what was the difference between ascetics and martyrs regarding the measures of pain and love respectively. Providing answers to these questions, unaddressed in existing studies, is the main contribution of this paper. While addressing them, I present a new category, the category of measure, for philosophical analysis of the old religious phenomenon under discussion. This category allows me to demonstrate that the measure of pain had significance and that there was an adequacy ratio between the measure of pain monastic ascetics experienced and the measure of love they expressed. It also lets me argue that the right measure of pain for expressing their love for God, following His example, was the exposure of blood, regardless of its quantity. Keywords: philosophy of religion; pain; love for God; monastic ascetics; category of measure; blood 1. Introduction Since the beginning of mankind, humans have done everything in their power to avoid pain. The phenomenon of self-inflicted pain contradicts this basic human tendency. It is a multicultural, universal phenomenon, manifested in different contexts, including religious contexts, where adherents of different religions practice self-inflicted pain for various purposes. One such purpose is expressing love for God. The phenomenon of self- inflicted pain as an expression of love for God in Christianity, the subject of this paper, was at its peak among monastic ascetics in medieval central Europe (Largier 2007). 1 One key question respecting this phenomenon is identifying the right measure of pain one should inflict on oneself to express love for God. In the literature one finds theories and arguments dealing with pain in Christianity, with self-inflicted pain in general and self-inflicted pain among monastic ascetics in particular, 2 with the expression of love for God, with blood, its meanings, and representations. 3 I did not, however, find in the existing literature a complete philosophical, phenomenological analysis explaining the ratio between pain 1 “Middle Ages, the period in which we find the greatest number of flagellants” (Largier 2007, p. 47). “This sect first made its appearance in Italy in the year 1210, and the following account of it is given in the “Chronicon Ursitius Basiliensis” of the monk St. Justin of Padua: “When all Italy was sullied with crimes of every kind, a certain sudden superstition, hitherto unknown to the world, first seized the inhabitants of Padua, afterwards the Romans and then almost all the nations of Italy ... nobles as well as ignoble persons, young and old, even children five years of age ... Every one of them held in his hands a scourge, made of leather thongs, and with tears and groans they lashed themselves on their backs till the blood ran; all the while weeping” (Cooper 1970, p. 102). See also (Aberth 2018; Logan 2012, pp. 266–67). 2 “Perhaps the most striking feature of medieval monastic history is the proliferation of new religious groups and orders in the late eleventh and early twelfth centuries. These were the product of a search for the purest, indeed the perfect, form of monasticism, and are characterized by two main features: the desire to return to primitive monastic observances, either to the eremitism of the Desert Fathers or to a stricter interpretation of the text of the Rule of St. Benedict; and the appeal of apostolic poverty”, (Burton 1994, p. 63). 3 See int. al. (Anidjar 2014; Bynum 2007; Constable 1982; Dickson 1989; Howe 2012; Jones 2018; Kay and Rubin 1996; Rubin 1991; Merback 2007; Muessig 2020; Shea 2010; Tinsley 2010). Religions 2021, 12, 120. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12020120 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions