DOCSLIB.ORG

Ambrose and Augustine. Two Bishops on Baptism and Christian Identity

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Ambrose and Augustine. Two Bishops on Baptism and Christian Identity AUTHOR’S COPY | AUTORENEXEMPLAR Ambrose and Augustine Two Bishops on Baptism and Christian Identity Reidar Aasgaard 1. Introitus in Milan In the middle of the night before 25 April 387, a group of people were present in one of the many churches in Milan, the city which at that time was the adminis- trative and political capital of the Roman Empire. The church may have been the cathedral, the huge Basilica Nova, just a minute’s walk away from the city centre, or one of the very recently erected churches along the main roads leading into the city.1 The people were gathered in the baptistery, the section of the church of- ten called the Holy of Holies, taking its name from the place which was thought to prefigure it, the inner sanctuary of Israel’s Temple in Jerusalem.2 Before this night, each person had gone through an individual and com- munal process. They had – some for a short while, others for several years – been catechumens, awaiting baptism, through which they would become mem- bers of Christ and his church. Now, during the last months, since Epiphany, they had been competentes – “askers” who after having handed in a petition to be baptized had been preparing for the event in an introductory course on Christian faith and living. And now on the most holy night, the Easter vigil, they were – young and old, women and men – taking part in the sacred rite of baptism. Through this sacramental mystery they would becomeneophytes , newborn Christians, but still – as infantes – in need of protection and further maturing in their faith and lives.3 1 See N. B. McLynn, Ambrose of Milan, 226–237. W. Harmless, “Baptism,” 85 holds that it prob- ably was the Basilica Nova. 2 See Myst. 5; Sacr. 4.1–4. 3 For an introduction to Ambrose’s liturgical praxis and theology of baptism, see E. Ferguson, Baptism in the Early Church, 634–647 (ch. 40); also Th. M. Finn, Early Christian Baptism and the Catechumenate, 57–76. For a detailed presentation, see H. M. Riley, Christian Initiation. Riley’s work is a comparative study of baptism in Cyril of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Theo- dore of Mopsuestia, and Ambrose. The book has a number of helpful synoptic charts of their pre-baptismal, baptismal, and post-baptismal practices, highlighting both similarities and dif- ferences. For an interesting discussion of the praxis of baptism at Easter, see P. F. Bradshaw, “Diem baptismo sollemniorem”. He argues that the idea in liturgical scholarship of an early Christian (3rd–4th century) preference for paschal baptism is untenable, and that it was prima- AUTHOR’S COPY | AUTORENEXEMPLAR AUTHOR’S COPY | AUTORENEXEMPLAR 1254 Reidar Aasgaard Of the people present this night, four are known to posterity. One was the person responsible for performing the baptism, the bishop Ambrose (ca. 340– 397), who was then at the height of his fame and power as church leader. The three others were among the petitioners: the life-long friends Alypius and Au- gustine (354–430), and the son of the latter, the fifteen-year-old Adeodatus. The youngster died only two years later, but both Alypius and Augustine were to end up as bishops in their North African homeland. Augustine was unwillingly elected priest in Hippo already four years after his baptism. And four years later, in 395, he became the city’s bishop. From then on and for more than thirty Easter vigils, he would himself guide ever new petitioners through the sacred rite of baptism.4 In a sixteen-line poem, Ambrose, who wrote several hymns, has given a condensed description of central features in his understanding of baptism. The poem was clearly intended as an inscription in a baptistery. It is known to have been placed around the font in San Giovanni alle Fonti in the church of St. Thecla when it was rebuilt at the end of the fifth century, but may also have had a similar place when Ambrose during his years as bishop ordered the building of this church in Milan. The latter half of the text has this to say about what happens in the font:5 Here, whoever wants the sins of a shameful life to lay aside, may bathe the heart strings and have a pure soul. To this place may they eagerly come: however dark he may be who has the courage to approach, he departs whiter than snow. To this place may they hurry to be holy: without these waters no one is holy, in them is the kingdom and counsel of God, the glory of righteousness. What is more divine than this, that in a brief moment the guilt of the people perishes. In his famous autobiography, Confessiones, written about twelve years after his baptism, Augustine recaptures the effect the event had on him, and the impor- tance he ascribed to it looking back on his former life:6 rily a local custom in the Roman and North African churches in the latter half of the 4th century. If so, it can be seen as an (unsuccessful) attempt on the part of Ambrose, Augustine, and some of their colleagues to establish a tradition of Easter baptism in the West. See also M. E. Johnson, “Christian Initiation,” esp. 702–704, 706–707 for a discussion of these matters. 4 In Hippo, Augustine developed his own baptismal liturgy; on this, see Ferguson, Baptism, 778–789. 5 See the translation and comments in Ferguson, Baptism, 638; Latin text in G. B. De Rossi, Inscriptiones christianae urbis Romae (Vol. 2/1), 161. 6 Conf. 9.6.14. Translation is from Augustine, The Confessions (The Works of St. Augustine), 219–220. Augustine does not say in The Confessions that he was baptized by Ambrose, but he mentions this in a letter (Ep. 147.52). AUTHOR’S COPY | AUTORENEXEMPLAR AUTHOR’S COPY | AUTORENEXEMPLAR Ambrose and Augustine 1255 And so we were baptized, and all our dread about our earlier lives dropped away from us. During the days that followed I could not get enough of the wonderful sweetness that filled me as I meditated upon your deep design for the salvation of the human race. How copiously I wept at your hymns and canticles, how intensely was I moved by the lovely harmonies of your singing Church! Those voices flood- ed my ears, and the truth was distilled into my heart until it overflowed in loving devotion; my tears ran down, and I was the better for them. The texts of the two bishops are very different, not least due to their disparate genres, but also since they reflect characteristics of each author. Still, the texts have important features in common. The most salient is their emphasis on bap- tism as an existential turning point. Their descriptions of the consequences of baptism make it clear that both Ambrose and Augustine consider it an event in which a drastic re-orientation of life takes place, a crisis which brings about a fundamental shift of self-perception and status for those involved. Ambrose, for his part, states this most pointedly in the formulation, “how- ever dark he may be who has the courage to approach, he departs whiter than snow”. But he also visualized the change in the Milan baptismal rite itself, in which the baptizands first stood facing west while renouncing the devil and their old ways, and then turned to the east confessing Christ and their new life.7 Augustine, on the other hand, in his description works out in considerable detail the impact baptism made on him. He tells us nothing about the event itself, however, but all the more about the strong psychological effect it had on him, particularly during the following days: in his own words, “all our dread about our earlier lives dropped away” and he was filled with “wonderful sweet- ness”. Thus, amidst all the dissimilarities, both Ambrose and Augustine each in his own way here testify to baptism as an event that in fundamental ways affects a person’s identity as a human and as a Christian believer. 2. Baptism and Identity in Ambrose and Augustine This article will focus on baptism as a vital phase of transition, and how this phase is depicted by Ambrose and Augustine. Important questions will be: what do the two bishops communicate to their audiences about the meaning and im- plications of baptism for faith and life? In what ways can they be seen as trying to construct a new identity in the neophytes? What means do they make use of in order to shape such an identity? And what does this Christian identity look like? My intention here is not to give an exhaustive answer to these questions, but rather to indicate how the issues of baptism and identity belong together, and how this finds expression in these two central early Christian figures. 7 Cf. Myst. 7, and below. AUTHOR’S COPY | AUTORENEXEMPLAR AUTHOR’S COPY | AUTORENEXEMPLAR 1256 Reidar Aasgaard Both Ambrose and Augustine, especially the latter, have much to say about baptism in their writings. To survey this is impossible within this article, and several scholars have already dealt with it at length.8 Here, my focus will be much narrower: I shall limit myself to a few texts, namely sources that are im- mediately linked to the event of baptism. With Ambrose, this will be his The Sacraments and The Mysteries; with Augustine, it will be sermons preached at the Easter vigil and during the following days. In both cases, the material closely reflects the message that was mediated to the neophytes at this central juncture in their lives.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • 0100-0200 – Melito Serdum in Asia Episcopus – Fragmenta Remains Of
    0100-0200 – Melito Serdum in Asia Episcopus – Fragmenta Remains of the Second and Third Centuries Melito, the Philosopher this file has been downloaded from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf08.html ANF08. The Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts and Epistles, The Philip Schaff Clementia, Apocrypha, Decretals, Memoirs of Edessa and Syriac Documents, Remains of the First Age Melito, the Philosopher. [a.d. 160–170–177.] Melito3540 may have been the immediate successor of the “angel” (or “apostle”) of the church of Sardis, to whom our Great High Priest addressed one of the apocalyptic messages. He was an “Apostolic Father” in point of fact; he very probably knew the blessed Polycarp and his disciple Irenæus. He is justly revered for the diligence with which he sought out the evidence which, in his day, established the Canon of the Old Testament, then just complete. In the following fragments we find him called Bishop of Sardis, Bishop of Attica, and Bishop of Ittica. He is also introduced to us as “the Philosopher,” and we shall find him styled “the Eunuch” by Polycrates. It is supposed that he had made himself a cœlebs “for the kingdom of heaven’s sake,” without mistaking our Lord’s intent, as did Origen. He was not a monk, but accepted a single estate to be the more free and single-eyed in the Master’s service. From the encyclopedic erudition of Lightfoot we glean some particulars, as follows:— 1. I have adopted his date, as Lightfoot gives it,—that is, the period of his writings,—under the Antonines. The improbability of seventy years in the episcopate is reason enough for rejecting the idea that he was himself the “angel of the church of Sardis,” to whom our Lord sent the terrible rebuke.
    [Show full text]
  • Life with Augustine
    Life with Augustine ...a course in his spirit and guidance for daily living By Edmond A. Maher ii Life with Augustine © 2002 Augustinian Press Australia Sydney, Australia. Acknowledgements: The author wishes to acknowledge and thank the following people: ► the Augustinian Province of Our Mother of Good Counsel, Australia, for support- ing this project, with special mention of Pat Fahey osa, Kevin Burman osa, Pat Codd osa and Peter Jones osa ► Laurence Mooney osa for assistance in editing ► Michael Morahan osa for formatting this 2nd Edition ► John Coles, Peter Gagan, Dr. Frank McGrath fms (Brisbane CEO), Benet Fonck ofm, Peter Keogh sfo for sharing their vast experience in adult education ► John Rotelle osa, for granting us permission to use his English translation of Tarcisius van Bavel’s work Augustine (full bibliography within) and for his scholarly advice Megan Atkins for her formatting suggestions in the 1st Edition, that have carried over into this the 2nd ► those generous people who have completed the 1st Edition and suggested valuable improvements, especially Kath Neehouse and friends at Villanova College, Brisbane Foreword 1 Dear Participant Saint Augustine of Hippo is a figure in our history who has appealed to the curiosity and imagination of many generations. He is well known for being both sinner and saint, for being a bishop yet also a fellow pilgrim on the journey to God. One of the most popular and attractive persons across many centuries, his influence on the church has continued to our current day. He is also renowned for his influ- ence in philosophy and psychology and even (in an indirect way) art, music and architecture.
    [Show full text]
  • F.F. Bruce, "The Earliest Latin Commentary on the Apocalypse,"
    F.F. Bruce, “The Earliest Latin Commentary on the Apocalypse,” The Evangelical Quarterly 10 (1938): 352-366. The Earliest Latin Commentary on the Apocalypse F.F. Bruce [p.352] The Book of the Revelation was unanimously recognized by the churches of the West long before the eastern churches made up their minds to accept it as canonical. Various reasons might be suggested for this: at any rate there was something about the book which immediately appealed to the souls of the western Christians and convinced them. of its divinity. It might have been thought that its peculiar Greek would not lend itself readily to translation into Latin but as: a matter of fact; the Vulgate Apocalypse is a masterpiece of literature and comes home to the reader with a charm and a vigour all its own. It is quite in keeping with these fact’s that, the earliest complete commentary on the Apocalypse which has come down to us should be in Latin: Its author was Victorinus, bishop of Poetouio in Upper Pannonia, now Ptuj on the Drava in Yugoslavia (until recently Pettau in Austria). Victorious suffered martyrdom, under Diocletian, probably about the year 303. Before his day others had commented on the Apocalypse, but in Greek. Fragments of exposition appear in the works of Justin Martyr and Irenaeus; Melito of Sardis and Hippolytus of Rome wrote complete commentaries on it (both, unfortunately, lost); while Clement of Alexandria and Origen are also said to have commented on it. So, apart from Clement and Origen, even the earliest Greek commentators on the Apocalypse represent the western churches and the churches of the province of Asia.
    [Show full text]
  • St. Barnabas's Memorial Episcopal Church
    St. Barnabas’s Memorial Episcopal Church 91 Main Street, Falmouth, MA 02540 508-540-3863 www.stbarnabasfalmouth.org 2 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS ........................................................................................................................... 5 SAINT BARNABAS’S WARRANT FOR 2021 ANNUAL MEETING .................................................................................... 5 JANUARY 2020 ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES ............................................................................................................ 6 ADMINISTRATION REPORT ...................................................................................................................................... 9 CLERGY REPORTS........................................................................................................................................ 10 REPORT FROM THE RECTOR ................................................................................................................................ 10 PARISH STATISTICS ............................................................................................................................................. 11 RECTOR’S DISCRETIONARY FUND ........................................................................................................................ 12 VESTRY REPORTS ........................................................................................................................................ 13 REPORT FROM THE WARDENS .............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Assumption of All Humanity in Saint Hilary of Poitiers' Tractatus Super Psalmos
    Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Dissertations, Theses, and Professional Dissertations (1934 -) Projects The Assumption of All Humanity in Saint Hilary of Poitiers' Tractatus super Psalmos Ellen Scully Marquette University Follow this and additional works at: https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Scully, Ellen, "The Assumption of All Humanity in Saint Hilary of Poitiers' Tractatus super Psalmos" (2011). Dissertations (1934 -). 95. https://epublications.marquette.edu/dissertations_mu/95 THE ASSUMPTION OF ALL HUMANITY IN SAINT HILARY OF POITIERS’ TRACTATUS SUPER PSALMOS by Ellen Scully A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Milwaukee, Wisconsin May 2011 ABTRACT THE ASSUMPTION OF ALL HUMANITY IN SAINT HILARY OF POITIERS’ TRACTATUS SUPER PSALMOS Ellen Scully Marquette University, 2011 In this dissertation, I focus on the soteriological understanding of the fourth- century theologian Hilary of Poitiers as manifested in his underappreciated Tractatus super Psalmos . Hilary offers an understanding of salvation in which Christ saves humanity by assuming every single person into his body in the incarnation. My dissertation contributes to scholarship on Hilary in two ways. First, I demonstrate that Hilary’s teaching concerning Christ’s assumption of all humanity is a unique development of Latin sources. Because of his understanding of Christ’s assumption of all humanity, Hilary, along with several Greek fathers, has been accused of heterodoxy resulting from Greek Platonic influence. I demonstrate that Hilary is not influenced by Platonism; rather, though his redemption model is unique among the early Latin fathers, he derives his theology from a combination of Latin-influenced biblical exegesis and classical Roman themes.
    [Show full text]
  • AMBROSE and JOHN CHRYSOSTOM This Page Intentionally Left Blank Ambrose and John Chrysostom Clerics Between Desert and Empire
    AMBROSE AND JOHN CHRYSOSTOM This page intentionally left blank Ambrose and John Chrysostom Clerics between Desert and Empire J. H. W. G. LIEBESCHUETZ 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With oYces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York # J. H. W. G. Liebeschuetz 2011 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other
    [Show full text]
  • St Vladimir's Seminary Elective Course Descriptions – Fall 2018
    6/22 St Vladimir’s Seminary Elective Course Descriptions – Fall 2018 Fall 2016 BIBLICAL LANGUAGES 313 Credits: 3 credits REV. DR GEORGE PARSENIOS The Letters of John. The goal of this course is to introduce students to reading Biblical Greek. In the first half, the course will focus on completing the student's skill in introductory Greek grammar, introducing non-indicative verbal forms and intermediate-level concepts in Greek syntax. In the second half, it will concentrate on performing extended readings from the Letters of John. The course will also include significant parsing exercises and an emphasis on building vocabulary. Prerequisite: One year of Biblical or Classical Greek. Thursday, 9:15a-12:00p CHURCH HISTORY 361 (461) Credits: 3 (3) credits REV. DR ANTHONY ROEBER Orthodox Christianity in North America. This course begins with Orthodox Christianity in the Kievan Rus, the emergence of Moscow by the 15th century, and the issues created by the “Unia” of 1596. The political, ethnic, and religious history of “Ruthenia” provides the context for understanding the migration of Slavic- speaking Orthodox to North America that altered the Alaska mission to the First Peoples of North America. Twentieth-century attempts at constructing a pan-Orthodox Church; the emergence of “jurisdictions”; debates over autocephaly and primacy then allow an analysis of the current relationship of the OCA, ROCOR, and the Russian Patriarchal Parishes to the non-Slavic Orthodox of North America. Prerequisite: Church History 110. Wednesday, 9:15a-12:00p LITURGICAL MUSIC 323 Credits: 3credits MRS ROBIN FREEMAN Advanced Choral Conducting. Advanced techniques of choral conducting are introduced and practiced, drawing on music from the Orthodox liturgical tradition.
    [Show full text]
  • The Preservation of 4Ezra in the Vulgate: Thanks to Ambrose, Not Jerome
    THE PRESERVATION OF 4EZRA IN THE VULGATE: THANKS TO AMBROSE, NOT JEROME Karina Martin Hogan One of the most dramatic moments in the reception history of 4Ezra was the publication in 1875 by Robert Bensly of a “missing fragment” of the Latin version, comprising the verses now numbered 36 to 106 of chapter 7, that he had discovered in a ninth-century codex containing five books of Ezra in Latin, in the Bibliothèque Communale of Amiens.1 These verses, though not entirely unknown in the West, since they had been translated in the 18th century from the Arabic version, were thought to be completely miss- ing from the Vulgate version.2 The source of the lacuna had been identified a decade earlier by a Professor Gildermeister, who discovered that a page had been excised from the Codex Sangermanensis, a Vulgate manuscript from the Benedictine monastery of St. Germain des Prés that is dated to “the eighth year of Louis le Débonnaire,” i.e., 821/2ce. “The inevitable conclu- sion,” Gildermeister had written to Bensly, “is that all known MSS [of 4Ezra], since none have been found without this lacuna, were derived from the Codex Sangermanensis.”3 Since Bensly’s discovery of the Codex Ambianen- sis, several Vulgate manuscripts that include the so-called missing fragment of 4Ezra have come to light, mostly of Spanish provenance.4 Still, the fact that a single manuscript with a page excised could have had such an impact on the transmission of 4Ezra in the West implies that the Latin version of 4Ezra was not very widely distributed in Europe prior to the ninth century.
    [Show full text]
  • Benny Ambrose: Life
    BENNY AMBROSE: LIFE hen Benny Ambrose ran away from in 1917 when the United States entered World his northeastern Iowa farm home War I, and he promptly enlisted.3 W near Amana at the age of 14, there Ambrose was assigned to the famed Rainbow was little to predict that he would become a leg­ Division, which served on the front lines in endary figure in Minnesota's north woods. Yet, a France. In later years he never talked about his chance encounter brought him there, and for overseas experiences except to tell about an more than 60 years he lived in the lake countr)' Ojibway army buddy from Grand Portage. This along the United States-Canadian border subsist­ man kindled Ambrose's dreams by describing a ing by prospecting, trapping, guiding, and garden­ vast and beautiful timbered wilderness filled with ing. After his death in 1982, he was honored with lakes and rivers in northeastern Minnesota, where commemorative markers on each side of the gold and sUver were waiting to be discovered. He international border two nations' tributes to the decided to prospect there for a year or two to person reputed to be the north countr)''s most raise the money needed to go on to Alaska.4 self-sufficient woodsman. 1 Soon after his military discharge in 1919, Benjamin Quentin Ambrose was born in Ambrose headed for Hovland at the northeastern about 1896. Little is known about his early years tip of Minnesota. At that time The America, a up to the fateful clay in 1910 when he ran away.
    [Show full text]
  • MELITO of SARDIS on BAPTISM by ROBERT M. GRANT Melito Of
    MELITO OF SARDIS ON BAPTISM BY ROBERT M. GRANT Melito of Sardis not only possessed an elegans et declamatorium ingenium (Tertullian in Jerome, De viris inlustr. 24), but also was concerned with philosophical topics. In his apology he spoke of Christianity as "our philosophy" (Eusebius, H. E. iv. 26. 7), and the titles of several of his lost works reveal his use of philosophical language. He wrote On the Subjection of the Senses 1 to Faith, On the Unity of Soul and Body, On Truth, On Faith, On Hospitality, and On the Corporeal God (Eusebius, H. E. iv. 26. 2). Some of these topics may take their texts from the epistle to the Hebrews (5.14 on the exercise of the senses, 13. 2 on hospitality, 12.29 God a fire). The first and the last, however, reflect con- temporary Stoic thought, according to which the senses served the principal part of the soul, where a "firm comprehen- sion", took place (SVF III 548; cf. II 823-62), and according to which God was corporeal (SVF II 1028-48). In the Stoic- Jewish IV Maccabees 2.22, it is the mind which controls the senses. 2 The most recent text of a fragment of Melito's treatise On Baptism was printed by Harnack in his Marcion : das Evangelium vom f remden Gott (ed. 2, Leipzig, 1924), pp. 421*-23*. For Harnack its importance lay in the last sentence. "If the sun with the stars and moon is washed in the Ocean, why is not Christ also washed in the Jordan?" This he regarded as proving that the treatise was intended to refute Marcion, whose gospel 34 omits any account of Jesus' baptism.
    [Show full text]
  • Construing the Cross
    Construing the Cross Type, Sign, Symbol, Word, Action THE DIDSBURY LECTURES 2014 • FRANCES M. YOUNG book.indb 1 12/23/15 4:07 PM Originally published in the United States of America in 2015 by Cascade Books, a division of Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, Oregon First published in Great Britain in 2016 Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge 36 Causton Street London SW1P 4ST www.spck.org.uk Copyright © Frances M. Young 2015, 2016 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. SPCK does not necessarily endorse the individual views contained in its publications. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978–0–281–07550–8 eBook ISBN 978–0–281–07551–5 First printed in Great Britain by Ashford Colour Press Subsequently digitally printed in Great Britain eBook by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong Produced on paper from sustainable forests book.indb 2 12/23/15 4:07 PM In Memoriam my respected Wesleyan grandfathers Rev. Ernest Marshall (1878–1957), who was born in Manchester; Rev. Sidney A. Worrall (1880–1978), who trained at Didsbury College. book.indb 3 12/23/15 4:07 PM book.indb 4 12/23/15 4:07 PM Contents Preface vii List of Abbreviations ix Introduction xi Chapter 1: Passover and Passion 1 Chapter 2: Scapegoat and Sacrifice 21 Chapter 3: Tree
    [Show full text]
  • Hali Meidenhad and Other Virginity Treatises
    71-7585 UNRUE, John Calvin, 1937- HALI MEIDENHAD AND OTHER VIRGINITY TREATISES. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1970 Language and Literature, general University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michiganf i J © 1971 John Calvin Unrue ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED MALI MEIDENHAD AND OTHER VIRGINITY TREATISES DISSERTATION Presented in partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By John Calvin Unrue, A.B., M*A. The Ohio State University 1970 Approved by UHtj Adviser Department of English PLEASE NOTE: Not original copy. Blurred and faint type on several pages. Filmed as received. UNIVERSITY MICROFILMS. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As this work progressed, I became increasingly aware of my debt to other persons who were helping to make the completion of this dissertation possible, ill though I cannot accurately express my gratitude, I dt least shall recognize some of those to whom I am most indebted. Without the inspiration and kindness of Professor Francis L. Utley, my adviser and my teacher, this study would not have been possible. His broad learning and keen perspective have led me around many pitfalls into which I would have fallen otherwise. I am grateful also for the help of Professor Robert Estrich, who was kind enough to interrupt his own important work to read my manuscript and whose extraordinary knowledge of the Fathers helped me to gain a necessary historical perspective. I likewise appreciate the helpful suggestions of Professors Eleanor 3ulatkin and Walter Scheps, who also read my manuscript.
    [Show full text]