The ancient cento-genre was prone to be used on all kinds of subjects.
New texts were created out of the classical epics. Empress Eudocia
followed this practice and composed the story of Jesus in lines lifted
almost verbatim from Homer’s epics. Jesus and his relevance to her
audience is thus presented within the confines of style and vocabulary
offered by the Iliad and Odyssey. The lines picked to convey her
theology are often clustered around key Homeric motifs or type scenes,
such as warfare, homecoming, feast, reconciliation, hospitality. Jesus
waging war against all evil and Hades in particular runs throughout
this Homeric and simultaneously biblical epic. The story starts in the
Old Testament which is conceived as a divine counsel on Mt. Olympus
where a plan to save sinful humanity is presented. The narrative then
follows the biographic lines of the canonical gospels, with John’s
Gospel holding pride of place in the way she renders and interprets
the Jesus-story. The story told suspends both the geography and time
of Jesus. Eudocia preaches the story she tells. She emerges in this
poem as one of the most, if not the most prolific female theologian
and preacher in the first Christian centuries.
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The Theology of Empress Eudocia’s Homeric Gospel
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781666908633
Publisert
2022
Utgiver
Vendor
Lexington Books
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter