Debating the Saints' Cults in the Age of Gregory the Great

Debating the Saints' Cults in the Age of Gregory the Great

Author: Matthew Dal Santo

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-07-05

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 0191626376

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In Debating the Saints' Cults in the Age of Gregory the Great, Dal Santo argues that the Dialogues, Pope Gregory the Great's most controversial work, should be considered from the perspective of a wide-ranging debate about the saints which took place in early Byzantine society. Like other contemporary works in Greek and Syriac, Gregory's text debated the nature and plausibility of the saints' miracles and the propriety of the saints' cult. Rather than viewing the early Byzantine world as overwhelmingly pious or credulous, the book argues that many contemporaries retained the ability to question and challenge the claims of hagiographers and other promoters of the saints' miracles. From Italy to the heart of the Persian Empire at Ctesiphon, a healthy, sceptical, rationalism remained alive and well. The book's conclusion argues that doubt towards the saints reflected a current of political dissent in the late East Roman or Byzantine Empire, where patronage of Christian saints' shrines was used to sanction imperial autocracy. These far-reaching debates also re-contextualize the emergence of Islam in the Near East.


Book Synopsis Debating the Saints' Cults in the Age of Gregory the Great by : Matthew Dal Santo

Download or read book Debating the Saints' Cults in the Age of Gregory the Great written by Matthew Dal Santo and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-07-05 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Debating the Saints' Cults in the Age of Gregory the Great, Dal Santo argues that the Dialogues, Pope Gregory the Great's most controversial work, should be considered from the perspective of a wide-ranging debate about the saints which took place in early Byzantine society. Like other contemporary works in Greek and Syriac, Gregory's text debated the nature and plausibility of the saints' miracles and the propriety of the saints' cult. Rather than viewing the early Byzantine world as overwhelmingly pious or credulous, the book argues that many contemporaries retained the ability to question and challenge the claims of hagiographers and other promoters of the saints' miracles. From Italy to the heart of the Persian Empire at Ctesiphon, a healthy, sceptical, rationalism remained alive and well. The book's conclusion argues that doubt towards the saints reflected a current of political dissent in the late East Roman or Byzantine Empire, where patronage of Christian saints' shrines was used to sanction imperial autocracy. These far-reaching debates also re-contextualize the emergence of Islam in the Near East.


Debating the Saints' Cults in the Age of Gregory the Great

Debating the Saints' Cults in the Age of Gregory the Great

Author: Matthew Dal Santo

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-07-05

Total Pages: 412

ISBN-13: 0199646791

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In Debating the Saints' Cults in the Age of Gregory the Great, Dal Santo argues that Pope Gregory the Great's Dialogues, which debated the nature and plausibility of the saints' miracles and the propriety of the saints' cult, should be considered from the perspective of a wide-ranging debate which took place in early Byzantine society.


Book Synopsis Debating the Saints' Cults in the Age of Gregory the Great by : Matthew Dal Santo

Download or read book Debating the Saints' Cults in the Age of Gregory the Great written by Matthew Dal Santo and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-07-05 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Debating the Saints' Cults in the Age of Gregory the Great, Dal Santo argues that Pope Gregory the Great's Dialogues, which debated the nature and plausibility of the saints' miracles and the propriety of the saints' cult, should be considered from the perspective of a wide-ranging debate which took place in early Byzantine society.


City of Saints

City of Saints

Author: Maya Maskarinec

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2018-04-10

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0812250087

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City of Saints explores how Byzantine Rome naturalized saints from throughout the Mediterranean world to build a new sacred topography. As a result, an exhausted city with a limited Christian presence metamorphosed into the spiritual center of Western Christianity.


Book Synopsis City of Saints by : Maya Maskarinec

Download or read book City of Saints written by Maya Maskarinec and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2018-04-10 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: City of Saints explores how Byzantine Rome naturalized saints from throughout the Mediterranean world to build a new sacred topography. As a result, an exhausted city with a limited Christian presence metamorphosed into the spiritual center of Western Christianity.


East and West in the Early Middle Ages

East and West in the Early Middle Ages

Author: Stefan Esders

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-04-04

Total Pages: 377

ISBN-13: 110718715X

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This interdisciplinary volume re-evaluates the interconnectedness of the Merovingian world with its Mediterranean surroundings.


Book Synopsis East and West in the Early Middle Ages by : Stefan Esders

Download or read book East and West in the Early Middle Ages written by Stefan Esders and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-04-04 with total page 377 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This interdisciplinary volume re-evaluates the interconnectedness of the Merovingian world with its Mediterranean surroundings.


The Saint's Life and the Senses of Scripture

The Saint's Life and the Senses of Scripture

Author: Ann W. Astell

Publisher: University of Notre Dame Pess

Published: 2024-07-15

Total Pages: 318

ISBN-13: 026820814X

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Through close examination of ancient, medieval, and modern Lives of the saints, Ann W. Astell demonstrates how the historical transformation of hagiography as a genre correlates with similar changes in biblical studies. Christian hagiography flourished from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries, illuminating the gospel through the overlapping forms of exempla and vita. Originally, the Lives of the saints were understood as hermeneutical extensions of the Bible—God authors the saint, just as God authors the divinely inspired scriptures. During the medieval period, a sense of dual authorship between God and the cooperating saint developed, paralleling the Scholastic impulse to assign greater agency to the human writers of scripture. Then, in the sixteenth century, powerful new anxieties about historical truth pushed hagiography aside for biography, its successor. Drawing on her expertise in the history of Christianity and biblical exegesis, Astell convincingly shows how this radical shift in hagiography’s status—the loss of the literal, allegorical, tropological, and anagogical senses of the Lives—serves as a bellwether for modern biblical reception.


Book Synopsis The Saint's Life and the Senses of Scripture by : Ann W. Astell

Download or read book The Saint's Life and the Senses of Scripture written by Ann W. Astell and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2024-07-15 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through close examination of ancient, medieval, and modern Lives of the saints, Ann W. Astell demonstrates how the historical transformation of hagiography as a genre correlates with similar changes in biblical studies. Christian hagiography flourished from the fourth to the fifteenth centuries, illuminating the gospel through the overlapping forms of exempla and vita. Originally, the Lives of the saints were understood as hermeneutical extensions of the Bible—God authors the saint, just as God authors the divinely inspired scriptures. During the medieval period, a sense of dual authorship between God and the cooperating saint developed, paralleling the Scholastic impulse to assign greater agency to the human writers of scripture. Then, in the sixteenth century, powerful new anxieties about historical truth pushed hagiography aside for biography, its successor. Drawing on her expertise in the history of Christianity and biblical exegesis, Astell convincingly shows how this radical shift in hagiography’s status—the loss of the literal, allegorical, tropological, and anagogical senses of the Lives—serves as a bellwether for modern biblical reception.


Heavenly Sustenance in Patristic Texts and Byzantine Iconography

Heavenly Sustenance in Patristic Texts and Byzantine Iconography

Author: Elena Ene D-Vasilescu

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-10-22

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 3319989863

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This book examines ideas of spiritual nourishment as maintained chiefly by Patristic theologians –those who lived in Byzantium. It shows how a particular type of Byzantine frescoes and icons illustrated the views of Patristic thinkers on the connections between the heavenly and the earthly worlds. The author explores the occurrence, and geographical distribution, of this new type of iconography that manifested itself in representations concerned with the human body, and argues that these were a reaction to docetist ideas. The volume also investigates the diffusion of saints’ cults and demonstrates that this took place on a North-South axis as their veneration began in Byzantium and gradually reached the northern part of Europe, and eventually the entirety of Christendom.


Book Synopsis Heavenly Sustenance in Patristic Texts and Byzantine Iconography by : Elena Ene D-Vasilescu

Download or read book Heavenly Sustenance in Patristic Texts and Byzantine Iconography written by Elena Ene D-Vasilescu and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-10-22 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines ideas of spiritual nourishment as maintained chiefly by Patristic theologians –those who lived in Byzantium. It shows how a particular type of Byzantine frescoes and icons illustrated the views of Patristic thinkers on the connections between the heavenly and the earthly worlds. The author explores the occurrence, and geographical distribution, of this new type of iconography that manifested itself in representations concerned with the human body, and argues that these were a reaction to docetist ideas. The volume also investigates the diffusion of saints’ cults and demonstrates that this took place on a North-South axis as their veneration began in Byzantium and gradually reached the northern part of Europe, and eventually the entirety of Christendom.


Dreams and Visions in the Early Middle Ages

Dreams and Visions in the Early Middle Ages

Author: Jesse Keskiaho

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015-02-19

Total Pages: 341

ISBN-13: 1316240800

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Dreams and visions played important roles in the Christian cultures of the early Middle Ages. But not only did tradition and authoritative texts teach that some dreams were divine: some also pointed out that this was not always the case. Exploring a broad range of narrative sources and manuscripts, Jesse Keskiaho investigates how the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and Pope Gregory the Great on dreams and visions were read and used in different contexts. Keskiaho argues that the early medieval processes of reception in a sense created patristic opinion about dreams and visions, resulting in a set of authoritative ideas that could be used both to defend and to question reports of individual visionary experiences. This book is a major contribution to discussions about the intellectual place of dreams and visions in the early Middle Ages, and underlines the creative nature of early medieval engagement with authoritative texts.


Book Synopsis Dreams and Visions in the Early Middle Ages by : Jesse Keskiaho

Download or read book Dreams and Visions in the Early Middle Ages written by Jesse Keskiaho and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-02-19 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dreams and visions played important roles in the Christian cultures of the early Middle Ages. But not only did tradition and authoritative texts teach that some dreams were divine: some also pointed out that this was not always the case. Exploring a broad range of narrative sources and manuscripts, Jesse Keskiaho investigates how the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and Pope Gregory the Great on dreams and visions were read and used in different contexts. Keskiaho argues that the early medieval processes of reception in a sense created patristic opinion about dreams and visions, resulting in a set of authoritative ideas that could be used both to defend and to question reports of individual visionary experiences. This book is a major contribution to discussions about the intellectual place of dreams and visions in the early Middle Ages, and underlines the creative nature of early medieval engagement with authoritative texts.


Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things?

Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things?

Author: Robert Bartlett

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2015-09-15

Total Pages: 806

ISBN-13: 0691169683

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A sweeping, authoritative, and entertaining history of the Christian cult of the saints from its origin to the Reformation From its earliest centuries, one of the most notable features of Christianity has been the veneration of the saints—the holy dead. This ambitious history tells the fascinating story of the cult of the saints from its origins in the second-century days of the Christian martyrs to the Protestant Reformation. Robert Bartlett examines all of the most important aspects of the saints—including miracles, relics, pilgrimages, shrines, and the saints' role in the calendar, literature, and art. The book explores the central role played by the bodies and body parts of saints, and the special treatment these relics received. From the routes, dangers, and rewards of pilgrimage, to the saints' impact on everyday life, Bartlett's account is an unmatched examination of an important and intriguing part of the religious life of the past—as well as the present.


Book Synopsis Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things? by : Robert Bartlett

Download or read book Why Can the Dead Do Such Great Things? written by Robert Bartlett and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-09-15 with total page 806 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sweeping, authoritative, and entertaining history of the Christian cult of the saints from its origin to the Reformation From its earliest centuries, one of the most notable features of Christianity has been the veneration of the saints—the holy dead. This ambitious history tells the fascinating story of the cult of the saints from its origins in the second-century days of the Christian martyrs to the Protestant Reformation. Robert Bartlett examines all of the most important aspects of the saints—including miracles, relics, pilgrimages, shrines, and the saints' role in the calendar, literature, and art. The book explores the central role played by the bodies and body parts of saints, and the special treatment these relics received. From the routes, dangers, and rewards of pilgrimage, to the saints' impact on everyday life, Bartlett's account is an unmatched examination of an important and intriguing part of the religious life of the past—as well as the present.


Cult of the Dead

Cult of the Dead

Author: KYLE. SMITH

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2024-10

Total Pages: 383

ISBN-13: 0520409833

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A cultural history of how Christianity was born from its martyrs. Though it promises eternal life, Christianity was forged in death. Christianity is built upon the legacies of the apostles and martyrs who chose to die rather than renounce the name of their lord. In this innovative cultural history, Kyle Smith shows how a devotion to death has shaped Christianity for two thousand years. For centuries, Christians have cared for their saints, curating their deaths as examples of holiness. Martyrs' stories, lurid legends of torture, have been told and retold, translated and rewritten. Martyrs' bones are alive in the world, relics pulsing with wonder. Martyrs' shrines are still visited by pilgrims, many in search of a miracle. Martyrs have even shaped the Christian conception of time, with each day of the year celebrating the death of a saint. From Roman antiquity to the present, by way of medieval England and the Protestant Reformation, Cult of the Dead tells the fascinating story of how the world's most widespread religion is steeped in the memory of its martyrs.


Book Synopsis Cult of the Dead by : KYLE. SMITH

Download or read book Cult of the Dead written by KYLE. SMITH and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2024-10 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A cultural history of how Christianity was born from its martyrs. Though it promises eternal life, Christianity was forged in death. Christianity is built upon the legacies of the apostles and martyrs who chose to die rather than renounce the name of their lord. In this innovative cultural history, Kyle Smith shows how a devotion to death has shaped Christianity for two thousand years. For centuries, Christians have cared for their saints, curating their deaths as examples of holiness. Martyrs' stories, lurid legends of torture, have been told and retold, translated and rewritten. Martyrs' bones are alive in the world, relics pulsing with wonder. Martyrs' shrines are still visited by pilgrims, many in search of a miracle. Martyrs have even shaped the Christian conception of time, with each day of the year celebrating the death of a saint. From Roman antiquity to the present, by way of medieval England and the Protestant Reformation, Cult of the Dead tells the fascinating story of how the world's most widespread religion is steeped in the memory of its martyrs.


The Saints

The Saints

Author: Simon Yarrow

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016-09-14

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 0191087211

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The saints form a huge part of our world's history, on both a religious and secular level. Their shrines have attracted millions of pilgrims throughout the centuries, and their relics continue to be venerated today. In North America even atheists and non-Christians know to bury a statue of St Joseph in their yards for a quick sale of their property. In England there is a tradition that the weather on St Swithun's feast day (the 15th July) will continue for forty more days. On the 14th of February the love-struck and lonely-hearted of the world declare their crushes with a card or gifts to the object of their affections, signing in the name of St Valentine. But how did people become saints? What role does sainthood continue to play in our institutional beliefs and traditions? And how does their significance in the Christian ideology translate into other cultures and belief systems? Simon Yarrow introduces the origins of sainthood and sanctity, and examines the part the saints have played in our society and culture, from the ancient world to the modern day. Exploring the treatment of saints in literature and art, and the way they have been used in politics, he analyses them as examples of idealised male and female heroism. He concludes by considering the similarities between Christian Saints and holy figures in other religious cultures, including Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism.


Book Synopsis The Saints by : Simon Yarrow

Download or read book The Saints written by Simon Yarrow and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-14 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The saints form a huge part of our world's history, on both a religious and secular level. Their shrines have attracted millions of pilgrims throughout the centuries, and their relics continue to be venerated today. In North America even atheists and non-Christians know to bury a statue of St Joseph in their yards for a quick sale of their property. In England there is a tradition that the weather on St Swithun's feast day (the 15th July) will continue for forty more days. On the 14th of February the love-struck and lonely-hearted of the world declare their crushes with a card or gifts to the object of their affections, signing in the name of St Valentine. But how did people become saints? What role does sainthood continue to play in our institutional beliefs and traditions? And how does their significance in the Christian ideology translate into other cultures and belief systems? Simon Yarrow introduces the origins of sainthood and sanctity, and examines the part the saints have played in our society and culture, from the ancient world to the modern day. Exploring the treatment of saints in literature and art, and the way they have been used in politics, he analyses them as examples of idealised male and female heroism. He concludes by considering the similarities between Christian Saints and holy figures in other religious cultures, including Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism.