- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- August 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199245789
- eISBN:
- 9780191601453
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199245789.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
De officiis, by Ambrose of Milan (c. 339–397), is one of the most important texts of Latin Patristic literature, and a major work of early Christian ethics. Modelled on the De officiis ...
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De officiis, by Ambrose of Milan (c. 339–397), is one of the most important texts of Latin Patristic literature, and a major work of early Christian ethics. Modelled on the De officiis of Cicero, it synthesizes Stoic assumptions on virtue and expediency with biblical patterns of humility, charity, and self–denial to present Ambrose's vision of conduct appropriate for representatives of the church of Milan in the late 380s. Ambrose aspires to demonstrate that Christian values not only match but also exceed the moral standards advocated by Cicero. His purpose is not to build bridges between Cicero and Christ, but to replace Cicero's work with a new Christian account of duties, designed to show the social triumph of the gospel in the world of the Roman Empire. This edition consists of Ambrose's Latin text and a new English translation, the first since the nineteenth century. The Introduction considers in detail such matters as the composition of the work, its intended purpose, and its combination of biblical teaching and Ciceronian Stoicism. The Commentary (Volume 2 of the set) concentrates on the structure of the work, its copious citations of Scripture and Cicero, and its historical and social context.Less
De officiis, by Ambrose of Milan (c. 339–397), is one of the most important texts of Latin Patristic literature, and a major work of early Christian ethics. Modelled on the De officiis of Cicero, it synthesizes Stoic assumptions on virtue and expediency with biblical patterns of humility, charity, and self–denial to present Ambrose's vision of conduct appropriate for representatives of the church of Milan in the late 380s. Ambrose aspires to demonstrate that Christian values not only match but also exceed the moral standards advocated by Cicero. His purpose is not to build bridges between Cicero and Christ, but to replace Cicero's work with a new Christian account of duties, designed to show the social triumph of the gospel in the world of the Roman Empire. This edition consists of Ambrose's Latin text and a new English translation, the first since the nineteenth century. The Introduction considers in detail such matters as the composition of the work, its intended purpose, and its combination of biblical teaching and Ciceronian Stoicism. The Commentary (Volume 2 of the set) concentrates on the structure of the work, its copious citations of Scripture and Cicero, and its historical and social context.
Alcuin Blamires
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198186304
- eISBN:
- 9780191674501
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198186304.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
Misogyny is of course not the whole story of medieval discourse on women: medieval culture also envisaged a case for women. But hitherto studies of profeminine attitudes in that period's culture have ...
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Misogyny is of course not the whole story of medieval discourse on women: medieval culture also envisaged a case for women. But hitherto studies of profeminine attitudes in that period's culture have tended to concentrate on courtly literature, on female visionary writings, or on attempts to transcend misogyny by major authors such as Christine de Pizan and Chaucer. This book sets out to demonstrate something different: that there existed from early in the Middle Ages a corpus of substantial traditions in defence of women, on which the more familiar authors drew, and that this corpus itself consolidated strands of profeminine thought that had been present as far back as the patristic literature of the 4th century. The book surveys extant writings formally defending women in the Middle Ages; identifies a source for profeminine argument in biblical apocrypha; offers a series of explorations of the background and circulation of central arguments on behalf of women; and seeks to situate relevant texts by Christine de Pizan, Chaucer, Abelard, and Hrotsvitha in relation to these arguments. Topics covered range from the privileges of women, and pro-Eve polemic, to the social and moral strengths attributed to women, and to the powerful models frequently disruptive of patriarchal complacency presented by Old and New Testament women. The contribution made by these emphases (which are not to be confused with feminism in a modern sense) to medieval constructions of gender is throughout critically assessed.Less
Misogyny is of course not the whole story of medieval discourse on women: medieval culture also envisaged a case for women. But hitherto studies of profeminine attitudes in that period's culture have tended to concentrate on courtly literature, on female visionary writings, or on attempts to transcend misogyny by major authors such as Christine de Pizan and Chaucer. This book sets out to demonstrate something different: that there existed from early in the Middle Ages a corpus of substantial traditions in defence of women, on which the more familiar authors drew, and that this corpus itself consolidated strands of profeminine thought that had been present as far back as the patristic literature of the 4th century. The book surveys extant writings formally defending women in the Middle Ages; identifies a source for profeminine argument in biblical apocrypha; offers a series of explorations of the background and circulation of central arguments on behalf of women; and seeks to situate relevant texts by Christine de Pizan, Chaucer, Abelard, and Hrotsvitha in relation to these arguments. Topics covered range from the privileges of women, and pro-Eve polemic, to the social and moral strengths attributed to women, and to the powerful models frequently disruptive of patriarchal complacency presented by Old and New Testament women. The contribution made by these emphases (which are not to be confused with feminism in a modern sense) to medieval constructions of gender is throughout critically assessed.
Michael Lapidge
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199239696
- eISBN:
- 9780191708336
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199239696.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
The cardinal role of Anglo-Saxon libraries in the transmission of classical and patristic literature to the later middle ages has long been recognized, for these libraries sustained the researches of ...
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The cardinal role of Anglo-Saxon libraries in the transmission of classical and patristic literature to the later middle ages has long been recognized, for these libraries sustained the researches of those English scholars whose writings determined the curriculum of medieval schools: Aldhelm, Bede, and Alcuin, to name only the best known. This book provides an account of the nature and holdings of Anglo-Saxon libraries from the 6th century to the 11th. The early chapters discuss libraries in antiquity, notably at Alexandria and republican and imperial Rome, and also the Christian libraries of late antiquity which supplied books to Anglo-Saxon England. Because Anglo-Saxon libraries themselves have almost completely vanished, three classes of evidence need to be combined in order to form a detailed impression of their holdings: surviving inventories, surviving manuscripts, and citations of classical and patristic works by Anglo-Saxon authors themselves. After setting out the problems entailed in using such evidence, the book provides appendices containing editions of all surviving Anglo-Saxon inventories, lists of all Anglo-Saxon manuscripts exported to continental libraries during the eighth century and then all manuscripts re-imported into England in the tenth, as well as a catalogue of all citations of classical and patristic literature by Anglo-Saxon authors.Less
The cardinal role of Anglo-Saxon libraries in the transmission of classical and patristic literature to the later middle ages has long been recognized, for these libraries sustained the researches of those English scholars whose writings determined the curriculum of medieval schools: Aldhelm, Bede, and Alcuin, to name only the best known. This book provides an account of the nature and holdings of Anglo-Saxon libraries from the 6th century to the 11th. The early chapters discuss libraries in antiquity, notably at Alexandria and republican and imperial Rome, and also the Christian libraries of late antiquity which supplied books to Anglo-Saxon England. Because Anglo-Saxon libraries themselves have almost completely vanished, three classes of evidence need to be combined in order to form a detailed impression of their holdings: surviving inventories, surviving manuscripts, and citations of classical and patristic works by Anglo-Saxon authors themselves. After setting out the problems entailed in using such evidence, the book provides appendices containing editions of all surviving Anglo-Saxon inventories, lists of all Anglo-Saxon manuscripts exported to continental libraries during the eighth century and then all manuscripts re-imported into England in the tenth, as well as a catalogue of all citations of classical and patristic literature by Anglo-Saxon authors.
Teresa Webber
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198204404
- eISBN:
- 9780191676246
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198204404.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, European Medieval History
This chapter looks at the spread and popularity of Saint Augustine's autobiography Confessions in England during the 11th and 12th centuries. It suggests that the textual history of the Confessions ...
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This chapter looks at the spread and popularity of Saint Augustine's autobiography Confessions in England during the 11th and 12th centuries. It suggests that the textual history of the Confessions acts as a reminder of the frail nature of the patristic literary inheritance in the early Middle Ages. It cites evidence indicating that the autobiography had been known in England in the 8th and 9th centuries, though no copies of the complete text nor florilegia containing extracts have survived from that data.Less
This chapter looks at the spread and popularity of Saint Augustine's autobiography Confessions in England during the 11th and 12th centuries. It suggests that the textual history of the Confessions acts as a reminder of the frail nature of the patristic literary inheritance in the early Middle Ages. It cites evidence indicating that the autobiography had been known in England in the 8th and 9th centuries, though no copies of the complete text nor florilegia containing extracts have survived from that data.
Christine E. Hayes
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195151206
- eISBN:
- 9780199834273
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195151208.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
Pauline and early Christian attitudes towards the marriage of believers and nonbelievers owe much to the rhetoric and ideology introduced by Ezra and developed in related Second Temple sources (such ...
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Pauline and early Christian attitudes towards the marriage of believers and nonbelievers owe much to the rhetoric and ideology introduced by Ezra and developed in related Second Temple sources (such as Jubilees and 4QMMT). Paul implies that mixed marriage is fornication, a sexual sin that generates a moral impurity that defiles the believer and, by extension, Christ. Paul also implies that mixed marriage is a joining of holy and impure bodies as one body. Through carnal (i.e., sexual) connection, the moral impurity of the morally defiled body of the unbeliever is communicated to the holy and pure body of the believer, resulting in a carnal (i.e., fleshly) defilement. This new “carnal impurity” which conflates the sinful nature of moral impurity with the physicality and communicability of ritual impurity, figures prominently in patristic literature.Less
Pauline and early Christian attitudes towards the marriage of believers and nonbelievers owe much to the rhetoric and ideology introduced by Ezra and developed in related Second Temple sources (such as Jubilees and 4QMMT). Paul implies that mixed marriage is fornication, a sexual sin that generates a moral impurity that defiles the believer and, by extension, Christ. Paul also implies that mixed marriage is a joining of holy and impure bodies as one body. Through carnal (i.e., sexual) connection, the moral impurity of the morally defiled body of the unbeliever is communicated to the holy and pure body of the believer, resulting in a carnal (i.e., fleshly) defilement. This new “carnal impurity” which conflates the sinful nature of moral impurity with the physicality and communicability of ritual impurity, figures prominently in patristic literature.
