Constructing the Sacred in Late Antiquity: Jerome as a Guide to Christian Identity (original) (raw)
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Constructing the Sacred in Late Antiquity: Jerome as a Guide for Christian Identity
Jerome’s conflict with church leaders and the Christian communities in Rome and Jerusalem affected the development of his interest in the sacred geography and the religious significance of pilgrimage to holy places. Since both cities had functioned as centres of liturgical, spiritual and pastoral life in the Mediterranean world, Jerome was not reluctant to voice his criticism of local ecclesiastical leaders. His enthusiasm for shaping a new Christian landscape of sacred sites is not only indicative of his concern for the pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but also of his search for a new religious identity that was based on a putative, primitive early Christian (and by corollary, Jewish) creation of utopia. It is interesting to note that in the two well-known Letters 46 (386) and 58 (395), Jerome gave mutually contradictory stances; varying from firm support for pilgrimage to the biblical sites, to his denunciation of pilgrimage. This change raises the question as to how Jerome sought to prove his position, and refine the identity and behaviour of fourth- and fifth-century Christians in the Middle East. In this paper, I demonstrate that an examination of both the interest in a new identity and the importance of pilgrimage produce a more holistic view of Jerome’s perception of religious images in his corpus.
Journal of Late Antique Religion and Culture 2, 2008
"Arguing that Jerome’s famous dream (Ep. 22.30) constitutes a significant statement of authorial Christian identity this paper contextualises that passage within wider contemporary discourse. The intersection of Church politics and monumental building is examined, specifically the construction of S. Paolo fuori le mura and the development of a network of martyr shrines. Having established the extent to which Jerome’s dream engages with this Roman-Christian topography the paper will consider similarities between this passage and two others from Jerome’s epistolary canon, Epp. 22.26 and 60.18."
‘You Are Gods’ (Ps 81:6): Jerome and the Legacy of Origen’s Anthropology
Open Theology, 2021
The paper discusses Jerome’s attack against the belief that human beings share the same substance as the heavenly powers and even as the Trinity, according to the dignity (dignitas) of the soul: in polemical texts such as Ep. 124.14, Jerome attributes this belief to Origen. Jerome’s intent clearly to demarcate the difference in nature between human and divine beings is also reflected in his exegetical writings, especially when dealing with Psalm 81, where human beings are addressed as “gods.” The paper investigates Jerome’s understanding of the dignitas of humanity as it emerges from his Homily on Psalm 81: the comparison with Origen’s own passages on Psalm 81 reveals that Jerome closely follows Origen’s exegetical argument. However, through a careful definition of human dignitas Jerome intentionally distances himself from Origen when it comes to associating human beings with immortal beings, most notably Christ. Available at https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/opth-2020-0158/html
Medieval liturgists from the beginning and end of a long period of writing liturgical treatises Amalar of Metz (775 – 850) and William Durand (1230 – 1296) wrote so-called liturgical expositions. Amalar of Metz wrote in the early 9th-century exposition entitled De Ecclesiastico officio, in which he explains liturgical ceremonies using allegorical interpretation. In the developed Middle ages, he became a model for other theologians who followed his example in writing similar liturgical expositions. One of them is William Durand Older, bishop of Mende, who wrote liturgical exposition Rationale divinorum officiorum in the 13th century. Both liturgical expositions, the one of Amalar and the other of Durand, left a significant mark in their time, and in sequent centuries. Amalar’s exposition inspired the development of later medieval allegorical interpretations, while Durand’s exposition was in use until the recent liturgical reform in the 20th century. In this paper, the author researches the reception of the thought of St. Jerome at both abovementioned medieval writers. Medieval authors use patristic writers and sources not in the sense of theological development, but to approve doctrine or liturgical ceremonies of their time. Compiler methods of both medieval authors were important in the transmission of patristic thought to the following periods of history. In the research of St. Jerome’s thought in the works of Amalar and Durand, the author considers their use of St. Jerome’s commentary of the Holly Script, his attitude towards the unity of the Church and doctrine, relation to women, lay people, clerics, and sacred places.
It is not a myth that Christians in present days frequently take the Biblical Scripture and its content as being something that does not require their total attention, and thus diminishing its value and prestigiousness. Christians rush to judge their convictions as "scriptural", judge the bible itself, and it’s ironic; due to the fact that, a big percentage of these human beings simply have an absence of actual knowledge and apprehension of the authentic origins of the bible that is present nowadays. With a specific end goal to effectively comprehend the Bible and the effect it has on the Christian life, a research on St. Jerome and his interpretation of the Hebrew and Greek sacred writing into the Latin dialect ought to be extremely helpful.
The Monk and the Book: Jerome and the Making of Christian Scholarship
2006
In the West, monastic ideals and scholastic pursuits are complementary; monks are popularly imagined copying classics, preserving learning through the Middle Ages, and establishing the first universities. But this dual identity is not without its contradictions. While monasticism emphasizes the virtues of poverty, chastity, and humility, the scholar, by contrast, requires expensive infrastructure—a library, a workplace, and the means of disseminating his work. In The Monk and the Book, Megan Hale Williams argues that Saint Jerome was the first to represent biblical study as a mode of asceticism appropriate for an inhabitant of a Christian monastery, thus pioneering the enduring linkage of monastic identities and institutions with scholarship. Revisiting Jerome with the analytical tools of recent cultural history—including the work of Bourdieu, Foucault, and Roger Chartier—Williams proposes new interpretations that remove obstacles to understanding the life and legacy of the saint. Examining issues such as the construction of Jerome’s literary persona, the form and contents of his library, and the intellectual framework of his commentaries, Williams shows that Jerome’s textual and exegetical work on the Hebrew scriptures helped to construct a new culture of learning. This fusion of the identities of scholar and monk, Williams shows, continues to reverberate in the culture of the modern university.
Shifting Paradigms in the Study of Jerome
Complete programme with titles and abstracts for the workshop "Shifting Paradigms in the Study of Jerome", taking place during the Oxford Patristics Conference 2019, Examination Schools, Room 12 on Wednesday the 20th of August, 4-6.30pm, and Room 14 on Thursday the 21st of August, 4-6.30pm.
Vessela Traykova-Yoanina, 2021
The book proposes a new assessment of the issue of the archbishopric of Justiniana Prima, founded by Justinian I in Eastern Illyricum in the sixth century; and also of the place of this archbishopric in the early history of Christianity in South-East Europe. The aspects of the issue are examined in relation to 1) Justinian’s imperial policy, 2) the specific features of the local churches which Apostle Paul founded in Illyricum, and 3) the rivalry between them and the Churches of Rome and Constantinople for control over the dioceses of Illyricum. Consideration is given to Justinian’s possible motives in founding Justiniana Prima, thе archbishopric’s special character, and the reasons why it had a relatively short lifetime. The book then studies the presentation of the concept of Justiniana Prima in later centuries, and attempts to answer the questions: ‘Who are the true successors of Justiniana Prima?’ and also: ‘Is it possible that behind the apparent course of events there emerges a deeper spiritual subtext sending a message to future generations?’ Emphasis is placed on certain sources previously unavailable in Bulgarian translation. These shed light on Justinian’s personality, his actions, and his religious policy. The book also looks at the issue of early Christianity and at its roots in the millennial ‘culture of mysteries’. It also examines the essence of the conflict between early Christianity and the formalizing Churches of Rome and Constantinople with their Judeo-Christian background. There is an analysis of the reasons for the perversion of Christ’s Teaching, with some examples given of erroneous views that were substituted for the Savior’s own Teachings. The illustrations provide evidence for the specific features of churches lineally descended from the Apostle Paul and their kinship with the local ‘culture of mysteries’. An epilogue represents an attempt for a change in paradigm enabling the human individual and the human community to be placed in a larger context of many levels. The necessity of such a change is the outcome of the complexity of the problems raised in the text, which demand deeper levels of cognition.