Encountering the Sacred (eBook)

The Debate on Christian Pilgrimage in Late Antiquity

Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2005
270 Seiten
University of California Press (Verlag)
978-0-520-93112-1 (ISBN)

Infos

This innovative study sheds new light on one of the most spectacular changes to occur in late antiquity-the rise of pilgrimage all over the Christian world-by setting the phenomenon against the wide background of the political and theological debates of the time. Asking how the emerging notion of a sacred geography challenged the leading intellectuals and ecclesiastical authorities, Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony deftly reshapes our understanding of early Christian mentalities by unraveling the process by which a territory of grace became a territory of power. Examining ancient writers' responses to the rising practice of pilgrimage, Bitton-Ashkelony offers a nuanced reading of their thinking on the merits and the demerits of pilgrimage, revealing theological and ecclesiastical motivations that have been overlooked, and questioning the long-held assumption of scholars that pilgrimage was only a popular, not an elite, religious practice. In addition to Greek and Latin sources, she includes Syriac material, which allows her to build a rich picture of the emerging theology of landscape that took shape over the fourth to sixth centuries.

Inhalt

Preface
Abbreviations

Introduction: Pilgrimage in Late Antiquity
1. Basil of Caesarea’s and Gregory of Nyssa’s Attitudes toward Pilgrimage
2. Jerome’s Position on Pilgrimage: Vacillating between Support and Reservations
3. Augustine on Holy Space
4. Pilgrimage in Monastic Culture
5. Local Versus Central Pilgrimage
Conclusion

Bibliography
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Index

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 30.12.2005
• Reihe/Serie: Transformation of the Classical Heritage
• Reihe/Serie: Transformation of the Classical Heritage
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Archäologie
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Vor- und Frühgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Religionsgeschichte
• Themenwelt: Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Kirchengeschichte
• Themenwelt: Religion / Theologie ► Christentum ► Liturgik / Homiletik
• Schlagworte: Ancient World • Antiquity • aristocracy • Augustine • Bible • Christianity • christian pilgrims • christian world • Class • Cloister • Early Church • elite religion • folk religion • Grace • Gregory of Nyssa • Holiness • Holy Land • Holy Men • Holy Sites • holy space • Jerome • Jerusalem • Landscape • Monasteries • Monasticism • Monks • Monuments • Nonfiction • Nuns • Palestine • Pilgrimage • Pilgrims • Popular Religion • Relics • Religion • religious devotion • Religious Practices • Sacred geography • Sacred space • Saints • Theology • Tombs • Travel • Worship
• ISBN-10: 0-520-93112-2 / 0520931122
• ISBN-13: 978-0-520-93112-1 / 9780520931121