The baptized muse [electronic resource] : early Christian poetry as cultural authority /
Pollmann, Karla,
The baptized muse [electronic resource] : early Christian poetry as cultural authority / Karla Pollmann. - First edition. - Oxford, England : Oxford University Press, c2017. - vii, 280 pages ;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-257) and index.
Part I. The poetics of authority in early Christian poetry. Tradition and innovation: the transformation of classical literary genres in Christian late antiquity ; The test case of epic poetry in late antiquity ; Reappropriation and disavowal: pagan and Christian authorities in Cassiodorus and Venantius Fortunatus -- Part II. Christian authority and Poetic succession. Sex and salvation in the Vergilian cento of the fourth century ; Versifiying authoritative prose: poetical paraphrases of Eucherius of Lyon by Venantius Fortunatius, Walafrid Strabo, and Sigebert of Gembloux ; Jesus Christ and Dionysus: rewriting Euripides in the Byzantine cento Christus Patiens -- Part III. Poetic authority in rivalling cultural and theological discourses. Culture as curse or blessing? Prudentius and Avitus on the origins of culture ; Christianity as decadence or progress in pseudo-Hilary's paraphrastic verse summary of the history of salvation ; How far can saithood go? St. Martin of Tours in two hagiographical epics of late antiquity -- Conclusion: authority as a key to understanding early Christian poetry.
"With the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire increasing numbers of educated people converted to this new belief. As Christianity did not have its own educational institutions the issue of how to harmonize pagan education and Christian convictions became increasingly pressing. Especially classical poetry, the staple diet of pagan education, was considered to be morally corrupting (due to its deceitful mythological content) and damaging for the salvation of the soul (because of the false gods it advocated). But Christianity recoiled from an unqualified anti-intellectual attitude, while at the same time the experiment of creating an idiosyncratic form of genuinely Christian poetry failed (the sole exception being the poet Commodianus). In The Baptized Muse: Early Christian Poetry as Cultural Authority, Karla Pollmann argues that, instead, Christian poets made creative use of the classical literary tradition, and - in addition to blending it with Judaeo-Christian biblical exegesis exploited poetry's special ability of enhancing communicative effectiveness and impact through aesthetic means. Pollman explores these strategies through a close analysis of a wide range of Christian, and for comparison partly also pagan, writers mainly from the fourth to sixth centuries. She reveals that early Christianity was not a hermetically sealed uniform body, but displays a rich spectrum of possibilities in dealing with the past and a willingness to engage with and adapt the surrounding culture(s), thereby developing diverse and changing responses to historical challenges. By demonstrating throughout that authority is a key in understanding the long denigrated and misunderstood early Christian poets, this book reaches the ground-breaking conclusion that early Christian poetry is an art form that gains its justification by adding cultural authority to Christianity. Thus, in a wider sense it engages with the recently developed interdisciplinary scholarly interest in aspects of religion as cultural phenomena"--
Includes Latin text.
9780198726487
99971908085
12972155
2016952147
GBB6J7064 bnb
018130872 Uk
Christian poetry.
Christian poetry, Latin--History and criticism.
Christian poetry.
Christian poetry, Latin.
Christliche Lyrik.
Fruhchristentum.
Kulturelle Identitat.
Kultursoziologie.
Poesie chretienne.
Poesie chretienne latine--Histoire et critique.
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Electronic books
The baptized muse [electronic resource] : early Christian poetry as cultural authority / Karla Pollmann. - First edition. - Oxford, England : Oxford University Press, c2017. - vii, 280 pages ;
Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-257) and index.
Part I. The poetics of authority in early Christian poetry. Tradition and innovation: the transformation of classical literary genres in Christian late antiquity ; The test case of epic poetry in late antiquity ; Reappropriation and disavowal: pagan and Christian authorities in Cassiodorus and Venantius Fortunatus -- Part II. Christian authority and Poetic succession. Sex and salvation in the Vergilian cento of the fourth century ; Versifiying authoritative prose: poetical paraphrases of Eucherius of Lyon by Venantius Fortunatius, Walafrid Strabo, and Sigebert of Gembloux ; Jesus Christ and Dionysus: rewriting Euripides in the Byzantine cento Christus Patiens -- Part III. Poetic authority in rivalling cultural and theological discourses. Culture as curse or blessing? Prudentius and Avitus on the origins of culture ; Christianity as decadence or progress in pseudo-Hilary's paraphrastic verse summary of the history of salvation ; How far can saithood go? St. Martin of Tours in two hagiographical epics of late antiquity -- Conclusion: authority as a key to understanding early Christian poetry.
"With the rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire increasing numbers of educated people converted to this new belief. As Christianity did not have its own educational institutions the issue of how to harmonize pagan education and Christian convictions became increasingly pressing. Especially classical poetry, the staple diet of pagan education, was considered to be morally corrupting (due to its deceitful mythological content) and damaging for the salvation of the soul (because of the false gods it advocated). But Christianity recoiled from an unqualified anti-intellectual attitude, while at the same time the experiment of creating an idiosyncratic form of genuinely Christian poetry failed (the sole exception being the poet Commodianus). In The Baptized Muse: Early Christian Poetry as Cultural Authority, Karla Pollmann argues that, instead, Christian poets made creative use of the classical literary tradition, and - in addition to blending it with Judaeo-Christian biblical exegesis exploited poetry's special ability of enhancing communicative effectiveness and impact through aesthetic means. Pollman explores these strategies through a close analysis of a wide range of Christian, and for comparison partly also pagan, writers mainly from the fourth to sixth centuries. She reveals that early Christianity was not a hermetically sealed uniform body, but displays a rich spectrum of possibilities in dealing with the past and a willingness to engage with and adapt the surrounding culture(s), thereby developing diverse and changing responses to historical challenges. By demonstrating throughout that authority is a key in understanding the long denigrated and misunderstood early Christian poets, this book reaches the ground-breaking conclusion that early Christian poetry is an art form that gains its justification by adding cultural authority to Christianity. Thus, in a wider sense it engages with the recently developed interdisciplinary scholarly interest in aspects of religion as cultural phenomena"--
Includes Latin text.
9780198726487
99971908085
12972155
2016952147
GBB6J7064 bnb
018130872 Uk
Christian poetry.
Christian poetry, Latin--History and criticism.
Christian poetry.
Christian poetry, Latin.
Christliche Lyrik.
Fruhchristentum.
Kulturelle Identitat.
Kultursoziologie.
Poesie chretienne.
Poesie chretienne latine--Histoire et critique.
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Electronic books
