Candida Moss
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199739875
- eISBN:
- 9780199777259
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199739875.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Early Christian Studies
This book uses the martyrs’ imitation of Jesus in the acts of the martyrs as a window into the history of ideas. It argues, first, that the presentations of the deaths of the martyrs are modeled on ...
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This book uses the martyrs’ imitation of Jesus in the acts of the martyrs as a window into the history of ideas. It argues, first, that the presentations of the deaths of the martyrs are modeled on portrayals of the death of Jesus in early Christian literature and practice. Given that the martyrs are presented as Christ figures, they serve as narrative reinterpretations of the death of Jesus and can serve as valuable, early sources for the reception history of the New Testament. It also argues that the assimilation of the martyrs to Christ goes further than the narrative contours and stylistic features of their deaths. In the depiction of the salvific value of the martyr’s death, the postmortem functions of martyrs in heaven, and the martyrs’ status vis-à-vis Christ in the afterlife, the martyrs continue to be presented as Christly figures. As a result, the martyr acts can also contribute to our understanding of the development of ideas about Jesus (Christology) and the way in which human beings are saved (soteriology) in the early church in the pre-Constantinian period.Less
This book uses the martyrs’ imitation of Jesus in the acts of the martyrs as a window into the history of ideas. It argues, first, that the presentations of the deaths of the martyrs are modeled on portrayals of the death of Jesus in early Christian literature and practice. Given that the martyrs are presented as Christ figures, they serve as narrative reinterpretations of the death of Jesus and can serve as valuable, early sources for the reception history of the New Testament. It also argues that the assimilation of the martyrs to Christ goes further than the narrative contours and stylistic features of their deaths. In the depiction of the salvific value of the martyr’s death, the postmortem functions of martyrs in heaven, and the martyrs’ status vis-à-vis Christ in the afterlife, the martyrs continue to be presented as Christly figures. As a result, the martyr acts can also contribute to our understanding of the development of ideas about Jesus (Christology) and the way in which human beings are saved (soteriology) in the early church in the pre-Constantinian period.
Candida R. Moss
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199739875
- eISBN:
- 9780199777259
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199739875.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology, Early Christian Studies
This chapter uses the acts of the martyrs as a window into the reception history of the passion narrative. It begins with a discussion of the ways in which martyrdom was presented as grounded in ...
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This chapter uses the acts of the martyrs as a window into the reception history of the passion narrative. It begins with a discussion of the ways in which martyrdom was presented as grounded in scripture and an interpretation of various commands and instructions given by Jesus in the New Testament. From here it proceeds to analyze in detail the various ways in which narrative elements of the death of Jesus — prayer, crucifixion, overturning tables in the temple, forgiving executioners, the citation of psalmody, the conversion of bystanders, and so forth — were interpreted in the acts of the martyrs for liturgical, rhetorical, and theological effect.Less
This chapter uses the acts of the martyrs as a window into the reception history of the passion narrative. It begins with a discussion of the ways in which martyrdom was presented as grounded in scripture and an interpretation of various commands and instructions given by Jesus in the New Testament. From here it proceeds to analyze in detail the various ways in which narrative elements of the death of Jesus — prayer, crucifixion, overturning tables in the temple, forgiving executioners, the citation of psalmody, the conversion of bystanders, and so forth — were interpreted in the acts of the martyrs for liturgical, rhetorical, and theological effect.
Peter Lambert and Björn Weiler (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780197266120
- eISBN:
- 9780191860010
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266120.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
This volume brings together anthropologists, historians and literary scholars in order to explore how societies represented and used the past. Case studies range from the seventh century to the ...
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This volume brings together anthropologists, historians and literary scholars in order to explore how societies represented and used the past. Case studies range from the seventh century to the twenty-first, and from Africa, America and Asia to Europe. All the means and media by which societies, groups and individuals engaged with the past and expressed their understanding of it are addressed, and contributions treat not only professional historians, but also clerics, poets, novelists, administrators, political activists, and journalists as well as the consumers of their works. The utility of the past proved almost as infinitely variable as the modes of its representation. It might be a matter of learning lessons from experience, or about the legitimacy of a cause or regime, or the reputation of an individual. Rival versions and interpretations reflected, but also helped to create and sustain divergent communities and world views. With so much at stake, manipulations, distortions and myths proliferated. But given also that evidence of past societies was fragmentary, fragile and fraught with difficulties for those who sought to make sense of it, imaginative leaps and creativity necessarily came into the equation. Paradoxically, the very idea that the past was indeed useful was generally bound up with an image of history as inherently truthful. But then notions of truth proved malleable, even within one society, culture or period. Concerned with what engagements with the past can reveal about the wider intellectual and cultural frameworks within which they took place, the book is of relevance to anyone interested in how societies, communities and individuals acted on their historical consciousness.Less
This volume brings together anthropologists, historians and literary scholars in order to explore how societies represented and used the past. Case studies range from the seventh century to the twenty-first, and from Africa, America and Asia to Europe. All the means and media by which societies, groups and individuals engaged with the past and expressed their understanding of it are addressed, and contributions treat not only professional historians, but also clerics, poets, novelists, administrators, political activists, and journalists as well as the consumers of their works. The utility of the past proved almost as infinitely variable as the modes of its representation. It might be a matter of learning lessons from experience, or about the legitimacy of a cause or regime, or the reputation of an individual. Rival versions and interpretations reflected, but also helped to create and sustain divergent communities and world views. With so much at stake, manipulations, distortions and myths proliferated. But given also that evidence of past societies was fragmentary, fragile and fraught with difficulties for those who sought to make sense of it, imaginative leaps and creativity necessarily came into the equation. Paradoxically, the very idea that the past was indeed useful was generally bound up with an image of history as inherently truthful. But then notions of truth proved malleable, even within one society, culture or period. Concerned with what engagements with the past can reveal about the wider intellectual and cultural frameworks within which they took place, the book is of relevance to anyone interested in how societies, communities and individuals acted on their historical consciousness.
Peter Thacher Lanfer
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199926749
- eISBN:
- 9780199950591
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199926749.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
Chapter One outlines the sources, methods, and goals of this project. Firstly, this chapter argues against the marginality of the expulsion narrative in early Jewish and Christian interpretations of ...
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Chapter One outlines the sources, methods, and goals of this project. Firstly, this chapter argues against the marginality of the expulsion narrative in early Jewish and Christian interpretations of the Garden of Eden narrative, and sets guidelines for the inclusion of a wide variety of citations and allusions to the expulsion. Secondly, this chapter proposes a methodological pluralism to examine the source text of Gen 3:22–24 and the later texts interpreting the expulsion. This use of multiple methodologies is essential to avoid privileging a theoretical “urtext,” or eliminating divergent interpretations as eisegetical. Finally, this project argues for the composite character of the redacted Garden of Eden in which the expulsion serves an ideological corrective to the independent pursuit of wisdom over and against the adherence to covenant and cult. The chapter argues this ideological insertion of the expulsion narrative is preserved as a foundational dialogue of the redacted text of Genesis 2–3, and provides a reasonable constraint to interpretations of it.Less
Chapter One outlines the sources, methods, and goals of this project. Firstly, this chapter argues against the marginality of the expulsion narrative in early Jewish and Christian interpretations of the Garden of Eden narrative, and sets guidelines for the inclusion of a wide variety of citations and allusions to the expulsion. Secondly, this chapter proposes a methodological pluralism to examine the source text of Gen 3:22–24 and the later texts interpreting the expulsion. This use of multiple methodologies is essential to avoid privileging a theoretical “urtext,” or eliminating divergent interpretations as eisegetical. Finally, this project argues for the composite character of the redacted Garden of Eden in which the expulsion serves an ideological corrective to the independent pursuit of wisdom over and against the adherence to covenant and cult. The chapter argues this ideological insertion of the expulsion narrative is preserved as a foundational dialogue of the redacted text of Genesis 2–3, and provides a reasonable constraint to interpretations of it.
John Barton
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265420
- eISBN:
- 9780191760471
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265420.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Readers of ancient texts often assume that they are looking for the meaning intended by the author. Trends in modern literary theory, from the ‘New Criticism’ to structuralism and postmodern ...
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Readers of ancient texts often assume that they are looking for the meaning intended by the author. Trends in modern literary theory, from the ‘New Criticism’ to structuralism and postmodern deconstruction, have called this into question. In its place readers look either for meanings supposedly inherent to the text regardless of the author's intention, or for meanings attributable to the text through creative ‘readings’, without any implication that the text has a ‘real’ meaning. Theorising of this kind has been more typical of the study of modern literature than of ancient texts, but the fact that so much ancient writing is anonymous or pseudonymous might make it an even more suitable case for a literary-theoretical treatment. However, such reading can produce meanings that are completely arbitrary. The work of Umberto Eco can provide a middle way between a textual determinism and total arbitrariness, through his concept of the intentio operis.Less
Readers of ancient texts often assume that they are looking for the meaning intended by the author. Trends in modern literary theory, from the ‘New Criticism’ to structuralism and postmodern deconstruction, have called this into question. In its place readers look either for meanings supposedly inherent to the text regardless of the author's intention, or for meanings attributable to the text through creative ‘readings’, without any implication that the text has a ‘real’ meaning. Theorising of this kind has been more typical of the study of modern literature than of ancient texts, but the fact that so much ancient writing is anonymous or pseudonymous might make it an even more suitable case for a literary-theoretical treatment. However, such reading can produce meanings that are completely arbitrary. The work of Umberto Eco can provide a middle way between a textual determinism and total arbitrariness, through his concept of the intentio operis.
Adam Rzepka
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199794959
- eISBN:
- 9780199949694
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794959.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy, European History: BCE to 500CE
Exploring the limitations of current scholarly discourse on the presence of Lucretius in literature of Elizabethan England, Adam Rzepka, in his paper “Discourse ex nihilo: Epicurus and Lucretius in ...
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Exploring the limitations of current scholarly discourse on the presence of Lucretius in literature of Elizabethan England, Adam Rzepka, in his paper “Discourse ex nihilo: Epicurus and Lucretius in sixteenth-century England,” confronts the notion that the De Rerum Natura figures the poetics of its own subsequent transmission. Drawing upon Michel Serres and Jacques Lezra, who have both used Lucretian terms (swerve, eventum [“accident”]) to figure discourse, he urges the need for a more mobile, complex model of discursive interaction during the Elizabethan period, which heretofore has presented Lucretian influence as a sudden, ex nihilo (and therefore highly un-Lucretian) occurrence.Less
Exploring the limitations of current scholarly discourse on the presence of Lucretius in literature of Elizabethan England, Adam Rzepka, in his paper “Discourse ex nihilo: Epicurus and Lucretius in sixteenth-century England,” confronts the notion that the De Rerum Natura figures the poetics of its own subsequent transmission. Drawing upon Michel Serres and Jacques Lezra, who have both used Lucretian terms (swerve, eventum [“accident”]) to figure discourse, he urges the need for a more mobile, complex model of discursive interaction during the Elizabethan period, which heretofore has presented Lucretian influence as a sudden, ex nihilo (and therefore highly un-Lucretian) occurrence.
Jerome J. McGann
- Published in print:
- 1988
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198117506
- eISBN:
- 9780191670961
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117506.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter works toward a historically grounded revaluation of a famous poem, and it attempts to integrate this interpretation with several disparate yet related sets of historical materials, ...
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This chapter works toward a historically grounded revaluation of a famous poem, and it attempts to integrate this interpretation with several disparate yet related sets of historical materials, including different phases of the reception history of Tennyson's work. An accurate transmission of facts is an essential element of criticism and scholarship, and a careful scholarly elucidation of obscure facts is only slightly less fundamental. The discussion here tries to show these relationships at a later point in this chapter, through a detailed examination of ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’. Before that, it examines a quotation from the ‘Introduction’ to Henry Kozicki's recent book Tennyson and Cho, a work which sets out to define Tennyson's ‘philosophy of history’ and its poetic operations.Less
This chapter works toward a historically grounded revaluation of a famous poem, and it attempts to integrate this interpretation with several disparate yet related sets of historical materials, including different phases of the reception history of Tennyson's work. An accurate transmission of facts is an essential element of criticism and scholarship, and a careful scholarly elucidation of obscure facts is only slightly less fundamental. The discussion here tries to show these relationships at a later point in this chapter, through a detailed examination of ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’. Before that, it examines a quotation from the ‘Introduction’ to Henry Kozicki's recent book Tennyson and Cho, a work which sets out to define Tennyson's ‘philosophy of history’ and its poetic operations.
Christian Hofreiter
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198810902
- eISBN:
- 9780191848032
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198810902.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
The introduction sketches out the moral, theological, and hermeneutical problems posed by ‘genocidal texts’ in the Old Testament, framing the hermeneutical challenge in terms of the following ...
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The introduction sketches out the moral, theological, and hermeneutical problems posed by ‘genocidal texts’ in the Old Testament, framing the hermeneutical challenge in terms of the following inconsistent set of propositions: (1) God is good. (2) The Bible is true. (3) Genocide is atrocious. (4) According to the Bible, God commanded and commended genocide. (5) No good being, let alone the supremely good Being, would ever command or commend an atrocity. The most pertinent biblical texts are then briefly presented. In addition, the methodological approach, that is, reception history, is set in its historical context, which includes a discussion of its recent resurgence and contemporary relevance. Finally, recent academic treatments of similar topics are discussed and an overview of the rest of the work is given.Less
The introduction sketches out the moral, theological, and hermeneutical problems posed by ‘genocidal texts’ in the Old Testament, framing the hermeneutical challenge in terms of the following inconsistent set of propositions: (1) God is good. (2) The Bible is true. (3) Genocide is atrocious. (4) According to the Bible, God commanded and commended genocide. (5) No good being, let alone the supremely good Being, would ever command or commend an atrocity. The most pertinent biblical texts are then briefly presented. In addition, the methodological approach, that is, reception history, is set in its historical context, which includes a discussion of its recent resurgence and contemporary relevance. Finally, recent academic treatments of similar topics are discussed and an overview of the rest of the work is given.
Tamara Levitz
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199730162
- eISBN:
- 9780199932467
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730162.003.0008
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Chapter 8 examines Persephone’s rebirth and return to the underworld with the goal of understanding what its emancipatory promise and historicity—or relationship to the past, present, and ...
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Chapter 8 examines Persephone’s rebirth and return to the underworld with the goal of understanding what its emancipatory promise and historicity—or relationship to the past, present, and future—tells us about the politics of modernist neoclassicism. Gide introduces the cardboard figure of Triptolemus as a symbol of renewal he associates with the Soviet Union, and with Orpheus’s “backward glance” and the anxious politics of his pédérastie. Rubinstein, Copeau, and Stravinsky, in contrast, think of Persephone’s rebirth in terms of the resurrection of Christ. Stravinsky interprets resurrection from Suvchinsky’s Eurasianist perspective as related to the notion of cyclical history, and to the political idea of Russia resurrecting as a theocracy after the Bolshevik revolution. In his music he realizes the temporal idea of the simultaneity of past, present, and future by composing music that functions as a “vitalist” sculpture, and that can be compared to Aby Warburg’s notion of the Pathosformel. The chapter ends with reflections on how Perséphone failed on the night of its premiere, and the heterogeneity of interpretations it elicited.Less
Chapter 8 examines Persephone’s rebirth and return to the underworld with the goal of understanding what its emancipatory promise and historicity—or relationship to the past, present, and future—tells us about the politics of modernist neoclassicism. Gide introduces the cardboard figure of Triptolemus as a symbol of renewal he associates with the Soviet Union, and with Orpheus’s “backward glance” and the anxious politics of his pédérastie. Rubinstein, Copeau, and Stravinsky, in contrast, think of Persephone’s rebirth in terms of the resurrection of Christ. Stravinsky interprets resurrection from Suvchinsky’s Eurasianist perspective as related to the notion of cyclical history, and to the political idea of Russia resurrecting as a theocracy after the Bolshevik revolution. In his music he realizes the temporal idea of the simultaneity of past, present, and future by composing music that functions as a “vitalist” sculpture, and that can be compared to Aby Warburg’s notion of the Pathosformel. The chapter ends with reflections on how Perséphone failed on the night of its premiere, and the heterogeneity of interpretations it elicited.
Peter Thacher Lanfer
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199926749
- eISBN:
- 9780199950591
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199926749.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Early Christian Studies
There are few texts as central to the mythology of Jewish and Christian literature as the Garden of Eden and its attendant motifs. Yet the direct citation of this text within the biblical corpus is ...
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There are few texts as central to the mythology of Jewish and Christian literature as the Garden of Eden and its attendant motifs. Yet the direct citation of this text within the biblical corpus is surprisingly rare. Even more conspicuous is the infrequent reference to creation, or to the archetypal first human pair. In fact, most covenantal texts in the Hebrew Bible begin with Abraham or with the Exodus rather than with the story of the garden. However, attention to Eden and the drama of the garden narrative increases in Jewish and Christian sources of the first centuries BCE and CE in which exegetes renew their interest in the earth’s creation. This exegetical shift is both to the former, first creation, as well as to the hope for an eschatological new creation. Most studies of Gen 2–3 omit analysis of the expulsion narrative of verses 22–24 altogether, leaving this section off as a late editorial addition with little relevance to the Eden Narrative as a whole. This choice is perplexing given the prominent place given by later interpreters to the motifs contained in these verses. The Tree of Life, the problem of wisdom, and the removal of access to the Garden become more important for Eden’s interpreters than Adam and Eve, the serpent, or the curses placed upon them. This book analyzes the expulsion narrative as an ideological insertion into the Garden of Eden narrative of Genesis 2–3 in response to the ascendency of scribal wisdom in the late seventh- and early sixth-centuries BCE. Additionally, this book proposes a new method of textual analysis, which places limits of reasonable constraint on the possibilities of interpretation, arguing that the essential dialogues of the redacted Eden narrative are reflected in the reception history of Eden’s interpreters.Less
There are few texts as central to the mythology of Jewish and Christian literature as the Garden of Eden and its attendant motifs. Yet the direct citation of this text within the biblical corpus is surprisingly rare. Even more conspicuous is the infrequent reference to creation, or to the archetypal first human pair. In fact, most covenantal texts in the Hebrew Bible begin with Abraham or with the Exodus rather than with the story of the garden. However, attention to Eden and the drama of the garden narrative increases in Jewish and Christian sources of the first centuries BCE and CE in which exegetes renew their interest in the earth’s creation. This exegetical shift is both to the former, first creation, as well as to the hope for an eschatological new creation. Most studies of Gen 2–3 omit analysis of the expulsion narrative of verses 22–24 altogether, leaving this section off as a late editorial addition with little relevance to the Eden Narrative as a whole. This choice is perplexing given the prominent place given by later interpreters to the motifs contained in these verses. The Tree of Life, the problem of wisdom, and the removal of access to the Garden become more important for Eden’s interpreters than Adam and Eve, the serpent, or the curses placed upon them. This book analyzes the expulsion narrative as an ideological insertion into the Garden of Eden narrative of Genesis 2–3 in response to the ascendency of scribal wisdom in the late seventh- and early sixth-centuries BCE. Additionally, this book proposes a new method of textual analysis, which places limits of reasonable constraint on the possibilities of interpretation, arguing that the essential dialogues of the redacted Eden narrative are reflected in the reception history of Eden’s interpreters.
Zoë Bennett and David B. Gowler (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199599776
- eISBN:
- 9780191738340
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199599776.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, Theology
This book is a Festschrift in honour of Professor Christopher Rowland, the Dean Ireland’s Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford. The use of the Bible has been ...
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This book is a Festschrift in honour of Professor Christopher Rowland, the Dean Ireland’s Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford. The use of the Bible has been fertile ground throughout Christian history for prophetic calls for radical change within society as a whole and the church in particular. The chapters in this volume examine aspects of this radical tradition, its doctrine, hermeneutics, pedagogy, and social action. They offer a sustained development of the theme of the Bible and its reception and appropriation in the context of radical practices, and an exposition of the imaginative possibilities of radical engagement with the Bible in inclusive social contexts. Part 1 treats New Testament texts directly; Part 2 explores some examples of reception history and of radical appropriation of the Bible in history and literature; Part 3 addresses contemporary issues in liberation theology and public theology.Less
This book is a Festschrift in honour of Professor Christopher Rowland, the Dean Ireland’s Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford. The use of the Bible has been fertile ground throughout Christian history for prophetic calls for radical change within society as a whole and the church in particular. The chapters in this volume examine aspects of this radical tradition, its doctrine, hermeneutics, pedagogy, and social action. They offer a sustained development of the theme of the Bible and its reception and appropriation in the context of radical practices, and an exposition of the imaginative possibilities of radical engagement with the Bible in inclusive social contexts. Part 1 treats New Testament texts directly; Part 2 explores some examples of reception history and of radical appropriation of the Bible in history and literature; Part 3 addresses contemporary issues in liberation theology and public theology.
John L. Thompson
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195137361
- eISBN:
- 9780199834730
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195137361.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
Passages in the Old Testament that tell of violence against women have received intense scrutiny from feminist biblical critics, who have also decried the way these women's terrifying stories have ...
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Passages in the Old Testament that tell of violence against women have received intense scrutiny from feminist biblical critics, who have also decried the way these women's terrifying stories have been neglected or discounted over the centuries. But how did these women and their stories really fare at the hands of traditional, “precritical” interpreters? This book examines scores of biblical commentaries from the Judeo‐Christian tradition, ranging from Philo and patristic authors, through medieval and rabbinic interpreters, to the Protestant Reformers and other commentators of the sixteenth century. Specific narratives examined include the story of the exile of Hagar (Genesis 16 and 21, Galatians 4), the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter (Judges 11), the gang rape of the Levite's concubine (Judges 19–21), and Lot's offer of his daughters to the men of Sodom (Genesis 19). A detailed examination of the history of interpretation sets forth the diverse agendas that these biblical stories served and makes clear that many precritical interpreters struggled intensely with these texts, with the injury to these women, and even with the apparent divine cruelty that allowed such tragic outcomes. The book concludes that these stories and these women were by no means neglected by premodern biblical commentators, and that there is a remarkable coincidence of interest shared by feminist interpreters and their traditional, precritical counterparts.Less
Passages in the Old Testament that tell of violence against women have received intense scrutiny from feminist biblical critics, who have also decried the way these women's terrifying stories have been neglected or discounted over the centuries. But how did these women and their stories really fare at the hands of traditional, “precritical” interpreters? This book examines scores of biblical commentaries from the Judeo‐Christian tradition, ranging from Philo and patristic authors, through medieval and rabbinic interpreters, to the Protestant Reformers and other commentators of the sixteenth century. Specific narratives examined include the story of the exile of Hagar (Genesis 16 and 21, Galatians 4), the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter (Judges 11), the gang rape of the Levite's concubine (Judges 19–21), and Lot's offer of his daughters to the men of Sodom (Genesis 19). A detailed examination of the history of interpretation sets forth the diverse agendas that these biblical stories served and makes clear that many precritical interpreters struggled intensely with these texts, with the injury to these women, and even with the apparent divine cruelty that allowed such tragic outcomes. The book concludes that these stories and these women were by no means neglected by premodern biblical commentators, and that there is a remarkable coincidence of interest shared by feminist interpreters and their traditional, precritical counterparts.
David Duff
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199572748
- eISBN:
- 9780191721960
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199572748.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
This book reappraises the role of genre, and genre theory, in British Romantic literature. Analysing numerous examples from 1760 to 1830, it examines the generic innovations and experiments which ...
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This book reappraises the role of genre, and genre theory, in British Romantic literature. Analysing numerous examples from 1760 to 1830, it examines the generic innovations and experiments which propel the Romantic ‘revolution in literature’, but also the fascination with archaic forms such as the ballad, sonnet, epic, and romance, whose revival and transformation make Romanticism a ‘retro’ movement as well as a revolutionary one. The tension between the drives to ‘make it old’ and to ‘make it new’ generates one of the most dynamic phases in the history of literature, whose complications are played out in the critical writing of the period as well as its creative literature. Incorporating extensive research on classification systems and reception history as well as on literary forms themselves, the book shows how new ideas about the role and status of genre influenced not only authors but also publishers, editors, reviewers, and readers. The focus is on poetry, but a wider spectrum of genres is considered, a central theme being the relationship—hierarchical, competitive, combinatory—between genres. The book establishes a new way of reading Romantic literature which brings into focus for the first time its tangled relationship with genre.Less
This book reappraises the role of genre, and genre theory, in British Romantic literature. Analysing numerous examples from 1760 to 1830, it examines the generic innovations and experiments which propel the Romantic ‘revolution in literature’, but also the fascination with archaic forms such as the ballad, sonnet, epic, and romance, whose revival and transformation make Romanticism a ‘retro’ movement as well as a revolutionary one. The tension between the drives to ‘make it old’ and to ‘make it new’ generates one of the most dynamic phases in the history of literature, whose complications are played out in the critical writing of the period as well as its creative literature. Incorporating extensive research on classification systems and reception history as well as on literary forms themselves, the book shows how new ideas about the role and status of genre influenced not only authors but also publishers, editors, reviewers, and readers. The focus is on poetry, but a wider spectrum of genres is considered, a central theme being the relationship—hierarchical, competitive, combinatory—between genres. The book establishes a new way of reading Romantic literature which brings into focus for the first time its tangled relationship with genre.
Christine E. Joynes
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199599776
- eISBN:
- 9780191738340
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199599776.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, Theology
This chapter highlights some striking examples from the reception history (or afterlives) of the haemorrhaging woman (Mark 5:25–34) and Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:22–3; 5:35–43) in order to point to ...
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This chapter highlights some striking examples from the reception history (or afterlives) of the haemorrhaging woman (Mark 5:25–34) and Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:22–3; 5:35–43) in order to point to radical elements in the Markan narrative. Remarkable identification with these two ritually unclean women across the centuries is illustrated through snapshots from different historical periods and different media (including art, music, and literature). Frequently, one finds that these two women function as models of empowerment against the forces of death, and exemplars of life-giving action: the haemorrhoissa displays bold, risk-taking action, whilst Jairus’s daughter responds to Christ’s compelling call to arise. Both their actions have inspired subsequent generations of interpreters. Reception history does not, however, simply retrieve these women from the margins; rather, it reveals that they function as forerunners of Christ himself.Less
This chapter highlights some striking examples from the reception history (or afterlives) of the haemorrhaging woman (Mark 5:25–34) and Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:22–3; 5:35–43) in order to point to radical elements in the Markan narrative. Remarkable identification with these two ritually unclean women across the centuries is illustrated through snapshots from different historical periods and different media (including art, music, and literature). Frequently, one finds that these two women function as models of empowerment against the forces of death, and exemplars of life-giving action: the haemorrhoissa displays bold, risk-taking action, whilst Jairus’s daughter responds to Christ’s compelling call to arise. Both their actions have inspired subsequent generations of interpreters. Reception history does not, however, simply retrieve these women from the margins; rather, it reveals that they function as forerunners of Christ himself.
Russell Stinson
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195116663
- eISBN:
- 9780199848959
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195116663.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter studies the “reception” of the Great Eighteen chorales. In a musical context, the term “reception history” implies the study of compositions as mirrored in the reactions of critics, ...
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This chapter studies the “reception” of the Great Eighteen chorales. In a musical context, the term “reception history” implies the study of compositions as mirrored in the reactions of critics, artists, and audiences. Specifically, the “reception history” is interpreted in the broadest sense of the term, encompassing any evidence that bears on how the Great Eighteen have been received over the years. Accordingly, it examines, in addition to aesthetic responses, such themes as the collection's dissemination in manuscript and printed form, its use as a model for transcriptions, its performance history, and its influence on composers. Johannes Brahms, Cesar Franck, Felix Mendelssohn, Max Reger, Arnold Schoenberg, Robert Schumann, and Ralph Vaughan Williams are some of the great composers in music history that enjoyed the Great Eighteen.Less
This chapter studies the “reception” of the Great Eighteen chorales. In a musical context, the term “reception history” implies the study of compositions as mirrored in the reactions of critics, artists, and audiences. Specifically, the “reception history” is interpreted in the broadest sense of the term, encompassing any evidence that bears on how the Great Eighteen have been received over the years. Accordingly, it examines, in addition to aesthetic responses, such themes as the collection's dissemination in manuscript and printed form, its use as a model for transcriptions, its performance history, and its influence on composers. Johannes Brahms, Cesar Franck, Felix Mendelssohn, Max Reger, Arnold Schoenberg, Robert Schumann, and Ralph Vaughan Williams are some of the great composers in music history that enjoyed the Great Eighteen.
Ian Boxall
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199674206
- eISBN:
- 9780191752230
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199674206.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, History of Christianity
This introduction provides an overview of the book, locating the project within the wider discipline of New Testament studies. It offers a definition of reception history, together with the closely ...
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This introduction provides an overview of the book, locating the project within the wider discipline of New Testament studies. It offers a definition of reception history, together with the closely related terms, ‘history of interpretation’ (understood as a sub-category of broader reception history) and Wirkungsgeschichte (a term coined by Gadamer, and variously translated ‘effective history’, ‘history of effects’, ‘history of effect’, and ‘history of influence’). An account of the methodology employed in this study is also provided, describing how the material was located, selected, and organized into an interpretative narrative. The organizing principles were primarily chronological (attending to date, geographical location, and cultural context), and secondarily generic (categorizing interpretations within the same broad chronological period according to different genres and types of interpretation, thus allowing potential genealogical relationships to be traced).Less
This introduction provides an overview of the book, locating the project within the wider discipline of New Testament studies. It offers a definition of reception history, together with the closely related terms, ‘history of interpretation’ (understood as a sub-category of broader reception history) and Wirkungsgeschichte (a term coined by Gadamer, and variously translated ‘effective history’, ‘history of effects’, ‘history of effect’, and ‘history of influence’). An account of the methodology employed in this study is also provided, describing how the material was located, selected, and organized into an interpretative narrative. The organizing principles were primarily chronological (attending to date, geographical location, and cultural context), and secondarily generic (categorizing interpretations within the same broad chronological period according to different genres and types of interpretation, thus allowing potential genealogical relationships to be traced).
Jay Watson, Jaime Harker, and James G. Jr. Thomas (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496812308
- eISBN:
- 9781496812346
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496812308.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
William Faulkner’s first ventures into print culture began far from the world of highbrow publishing with which he is typically associated—the world of New York publishing houses, little magazines, ...
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William Faulkner’s first ventures into print culture began far from the world of highbrow publishing with which he is typically associated—the world of New York publishing houses, little magazines, and literary prizes—though they would come to encompass that world as well. This collection explores Faulkner’s multifaceted engagements, as writer and reader, with the US and international print cultures of his era, along with the ways in which these cultures have mediated his relationship with a variety of twentieth- and twenty-first-century audiences.
The essays gathered here address the place of Faulkner and his writings in the creation, design, publishing, marketing, reception, and collecting of books, in the culture of twentieth-century magazines, journals, newspapers, and other periodicals (from pulp to avant-garde), in the history of modern readers and readerships, and in the construction and cultural politics of literary authorship. Six contributors focus on Faulkner’s sensational 1931 novel Sanctuary as a case study illustrating the author’s multifaceted relationship to the print ecology of his time, tracing the novel’s path from the wellsprings of Faulkner’s artistic vision to the novel’s reception among reviewers, tastemakers, intellectuals, and other readers of the early 1930s.
Faulkner’s midcentury critical rebranding as a strictly highbrow modernist, disdainful of the market and impervious to literary trends or the corruption of commerce, has buried the much more interesting complexity of his ongoing engagements with print culture and its engagements with him. This collection will spur critical interest in the intersection of Faulkner’s writing career and the unrespectable, experimental, and audacious realities of interwar and Cold War print culture.Less
William Faulkner’s first ventures into print culture began far from the world of highbrow publishing with which he is typically associated—the world of New York publishing houses, little magazines, and literary prizes—though they would come to encompass that world as well. This collection explores Faulkner’s multifaceted engagements, as writer and reader, with the US and international print cultures of his era, along with the ways in which these cultures have mediated his relationship with a variety of twentieth- and twenty-first-century audiences.
The essays gathered here address the place of Faulkner and his writings in the creation, design, publishing, marketing, reception, and collecting of books, in the culture of twentieth-century magazines, journals, newspapers, and other periodicals (from pulp to avant-garde), in the history of modern readers and readerships, and in the construction and cultural politics of literary authorship. Six contributors focus on Faulkner’s sensational 1931 novel Sanctuary as a case study illustrating the author’s multifaceted relationship to the print ecology of his time, tracing the novel’s path from the wellsprings of Faulkner’s artistic vision to the novel’s reception among reviewers, tastemakers, intellectuals, and other readers of the early 1930s.
Faulkner’s midcentury critical rebranding as a strictly highbrow modernist, disdainful of the market and impervious to literary trends or the corruption of commerce, has buried the much more interesting complexity of his ongoing engagements with print culture and its engagements with him. This collection will spur critical interest in the intersection of Faulkner’s writing career and the unrespectable, experimental, and audacious realities of interwar and Cold War print culture.
Paul S. Atkins
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780824858506
- eISBN:
- 9780824873677
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824858506.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
The medieval Japanese courtier, poet, compiler, copyist, critic, and diarist Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241) is one of the most influential writers in the history of Japanese literature. Descended from ...
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The medieval Japanese courtier, poet, compiler, copyist, critic, and diarist Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241) is one of the most influential writers in the history of Japanese literature. Descended from a lineage of courtier poets, Teika achieved early success through linguistic and conceptual innovation and is acknowledged as a virtuoso master of the thirty-one syllable waka form. His patrons included members of the regental, shogunal, and imperial families. Teika’s talents were much in demand as a tutor, judge of poetry contests, and compiler of imperial anthologies of waka. Much of his diary, Meigetsuki, survives today in Teika’s own hand, and samples of his distinctive calligraphy are coveted by collectors.
Teika, the first study of its kind in English, explores the most important and intriguing aspects of Teika’s life and literary works. Individual chapters examine his biography, early poetic style, poetics, understanding of classical Chinese and China, and a history of the reception of his life and works.Less
The medieval Japanese courtier, poet, compiler, copyist, critic, and diarist Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241) is one of the most influential writers in the history of Japanese literature. Descended from a lineage of courtier poets, Teika achieved early success through linguistic and conceptual innovation and is acknowledged as a virtuoso master of the thirty-one syllable waka form. His patrons included members of the regental, shogunal, and imperial families. Teika’s talents were much in demand as a tutor, judge of poetry contests, and compiler of imperial anthologies of waka. Much of his diary, Meigetsuki, survives today in Teika’s own hand, and samples of his distinctive calligraphy are coveted by collectors.
Teika, the first study of its kind in English, explores the most important and intriguing aspects of Teika’s life and literary works. Individual chapters examine his biography, early poetic style, poetics, understanding of classical Chinese and China, and a history of the reception of his life and works.
Colleen M. Conway
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190626877
- eISBN:
- 9780190626907
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190626877.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
The chapter introduces the subject of the book, the story of Jael and Sisera from the biblical book of Judges (4–5). It takes up questions and critiques directed at the biblical reception history ...
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The chapter introduces the subject of the book, the story of Jael and Sisera from the biblical book of Judges (4–5). It takes up questions and critiques directed at the biblical reception history project. In light of problems emerging from “reception biblical” approaches, the chapter describes the approach taken in the book as a cultural history of a biblical tradition. This approach is intended to study the use of biblical traditions across time in a way that goes beyond taking a “sightseeing tour” through the centuries, while acknowledging the value of maintaining different ways of doing biblical reception history.Less
The chapter introduces the subject of the book, the story of Jael and Sisera from the biblical book of Judges (4–5). It takes up questions and critiques directed at the biblical reception history project. In light of problems emerging from “reception biblical” approaches, the chapter describes the approach taken in the book as a cultural history of a biblical tradition. This approach is intended to study the use of biblical traditions across time in a way that goes beyond taking a “sightseeing tour” through the centuries, while acknowledging the value of maintaining different ways of doing biblical reception history.
Susanne M. Sklar
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199603145
- eISBN:
- 9780191731594
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199603145.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
Blake's Jerusalem has baffled many good readers, but approaching it as visionary theatre reveals the coherence of its complexities and strange language. Key terms – such as visionary theatre, Divine ...
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Blake's Jerusalem has baffled many good readers, but approaching it as visionary theatre reveals the coherence of its complexities and strange language. Key terms – such as visionary theatre, Divine Body, Zoa, Emanation, Selfhood, and Blake's four states of being (Ulro, Generation, Beulah, Eden/Eternity) – must be described or defined before approaching his illuminated poem both creatively and critically. Jerusalem seeks to move its readers (with its characters) from a merely rational approach (called Ulro) to an imaginative one in which all things interconnect in what can be called ‘differentiated unity’ (Eden/Eternity). A brief overview of Jerusalem's reception history prepares the ground for the imaginatively theological approach this book is offering.Less
Blake's Jerusalem has baffled many good readers, but approaching it as visionary theatre reveals the coherence of its complexities and strange language. Key terms – such as visionary theatre, Divine Body, Zoa, Emanation, Selfhood, and Blake's four states of being (Ulro, Generation, Beulah, Eden/Eternity) – must be described or defined before approaching his illuminated poem both creatively and critically. Jerusalem seeks to move its readers (with its characters) from a merely rational approach (called Ulro) to an imaginative one in which all things interconnect in what can be called ‘differentiated unity’ (Eden/Eternity). A brief overview of Jerusalem's reception history prepares the ground for the imaginatively theological approach this book is offering.
