| Edition |
First edition. |
| Description |
1 online resource (vii, 269 pages) |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-257) and index. |
| Contents |
Introduction: How to Approach Early Christian Poetry; State of research; Approaches and perspetives of the chapters; Outlook; -- Part I: The Poetics of Authority in Early Christian Poetry; -- 1: Tradition and Innovation: The Transformation of Classical Literary Genres in Christian Late Antiquity; -- Why Do We Need Literary Genres at All?; -- Classification of Literary Genres; -- Which Came First-The Hen or the Egg?; -- Early Christianity and Culture; -- Early Christianity and Literature.-- Theoretical Justifications for Christians Using Pagan Literature and Learning and Producing Literature Themselves -- The Fight for Cultural Hegemony: Typology of Five Formal Possibilities for Dealing with Surrounding Cultural `Productś; -- Typology of Five Possibilities; -- Seamless Continuation; -- (Partial) Erasure, Iconoclasm, damnatio memoriae; -- Abrupt Juxtaposition; -- Chresis orthe or usus iustus; Innovations: Beyond the Past; -- Conclusions; -- 2: -- The Test Case of Epic Poetry in Late Antiquity; -- Introduction; Five Types of Epic; -- Mythological Epic: Dracontius, Medea (Romulea 10), (Pagan) -- Panegyric Epic: Claudian, De Bello Gildonico -- Allegorical Epic: Prudentius, Psychomachy; -- Biblical Epic: Avitus, De Spiritalis Historiae Gestis; -- Hagiographical Epic: Venantius Fortunatus, Vita S. Martini; -- Conclusions; -- 3: Reappropriation and Disavowal: Pagan and Christian Authorities in Cassiodorus and Venantius Fortunatus; -- Preliminary Remarks; -- Reappropriation: Cassiodorus; -- Christianizing Pagan Erudition; Cassiodorus -- Canon of Authorities; The Authority of the Bible; The Authority of Orthodox Ecclesiastical Writers; The Authority of the Pagan Liberal Arts; -- Disavowal: Venantius Fortunatus -- .Venantius and the Authority of Genre -- Pagan and Christian Role Models in Venantius Poetry and Prose; The Poet as Mediator of Tradition; Conclusion; -- Part II: Christian Authority and Poetic Succession; -- 4: Sex and Salvation in the Vergilian Cento of the Fourth Century; -- Theory; -- Sex: Ausonius, Cento nuptialis; -- Salvation: Proba, Cento; -- Conclusion; -- Appendix; -- (1) -- Juvencus, Evangeliorum Libri 3.97-109; 124-6; -- (2) Proba, Cento 531-61; -- 5: Versifying Authoritative Prose: Poetical Paraphrases of Eucherius of Lyon by Venantius Fortunatus, Walafrid Strabo, and Sigebert of Gembloux; -- Introduction.-- General Comparison -- Individual Aspects; -- Venantius Fortunatus; -- Walafrid Strabo; -- Sigebert of Gembloux; -- Conclusions; -- Appendix; -- 1. Venantius Fortunatus, carm. 2.14; -- 2. Walafrid Strabo, carm. 21; 3. -- Sigebert von Gembloux, Passio Sanctorum Thebeorum 2.651-789; -- 6: Jesus Christ and Dionysus: Rewriting Euripides in the Byzantine Cento Christus Patiens; -- Part III: Poetic Authority in Rivalling Cultural and Theological Discourses; -- 7: Culture as Curse or Blessing? Prudentius and Avitus on the Origins of Culture; -- Preliminary Remarks; -- Prudentius, Against Symmachus; -- Avitus, De spiritalis historiae gestis. -- Conclusion. |
| Summary |
A collection of Pollmann's previously-published essays on early Christian poetry, most newly-translated from German and all updated and corrected. It is a genre that has tended to be overlooked by both Classicists and Patristics scholars and this collection will rectify that. "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"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Note |
Translated from the German. |
| Language |
Includes Latin text. |
| Note |
Derived from Print version record. |
| Local Note |
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press Open Access Books |
| Subject |
Christian poetry.
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Christian poetry, Latin -- History and criticism.
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Christian Churches and denominations.
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Christianity.
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Classical texts New.
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Humanities.
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Literature and literary studies.
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Religion and beliefs.
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The Early Church.
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POETRY -- Ancient, Classical & Medieval.
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Christian poetry. (OCoLC)fst00859372
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Christian poetry, Latin. (OCoLC)fst00859448
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| Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
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Criticism, interpretation, etc. (OCoLC)fst01411635
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| Other Form: |
Print version: Pollmann, Karla. Baptized Muse : Early Christian Poetry as Cultural Authority. Oxford : OUP Oxford, ©2017 |
| ISBN |
9780192517227 (electronic bk.) |
|
0192517228 (electronic bk.) |
|
9780191793295 (electronic bk.) |
|
0191793299 (electronic bk.) |
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9780198726487 (print) |
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0198726481 (print) |
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9780191039959 |
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0191039950 |
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