Preliminary Material /Pauline Allen and Cornelis Datema -- General Introduction /Pauline Allen and Cornelis Datema -- Birth of John the Baptist /Pauline Allen and Cornelis Datema -- Palm Sunday /Pauline Allen and Cornelis Datema -- Holy Week /Pauline Allen and Cornelis Datema -- Easter /Pauline Allen and Cornelis Datema -- Mid-Pentecost /Pauline Allen and Cornelis Datema -- Pentecost /Pauline Allen and Cornelis Datema -- Birth of Christ /Pauline Allen and Cornelis Datema -- Transfiguration /Pauline Allen and Cornelis Datema -- Biblical index /Pauline Allen and Cornelis Datema -- Patristic index /Pauline Allen and Cornelis Datema -- General index /Pauline Allen and Cornelis Datema.
This monograph on the Homilies of the Byzantine emperor Leo VI (886-912) provides the first extensive analysis of a neglected corpus of secular and ecclesiastical speeches, and sheds new light on both the fascinating figure of the author and the development of Byzantine homiletics.
In this collection of wedding sermons, Peter Leithart illuminates the subject from many perspectives, forming a loose, down-to-earth "systematic theology of marriage."
Preaching formed one of the primary, regular avenues of communication between ecclesiastical elites and a wide range of society. Clergy used homilies to spread knowledge of complex theological debates prevalent in late antique Christian discourse. Some sermons even offer glimpses into the locations in which communities gathered to hear orators preach. Although homilies survive in greater number than most other types of literature, most do not specify the setting of their initial delivery, dating, and authorship. Preaching Christology in the Roman Near East addresses how we can best contextualize sermons devoid of such information. The first chapter develops a methodology for approaching homilies that draws on a broader understanding of audience as both the physical audience and the readership of sermons. The remaining chapters offer a case study on the renowned Syriac preacher Jacob of Serugh (c. 451-521) whose metrical homilies form one of the largest sermon collections in any language from late antiquity. His letters connect him to a previously little-known Christological debate over the language of the miracles and sufferings of Christ through his correspondence with a monastery, a Roman military officer, and a Christian community in South Arabia. He uses this language in homilies on the Council of Chalcedon, on Christian doctrine, and on biblical exegesis. An analysis of these sermons demonstrates that he communicated miaphysite Christology to both elite reading communities as well as ordinary audiences. Philip Michael Forness provides a new methodology for working with late antique sermons and discloses the range of society that received complex theological teachings through preaching.
This volume, on the cult of the Theotokos (Virgin Mary) in Byzantium, focuses on textual and historical aspects of the subject, thus complementing previous work which has centred more on the cult of images of the Mother of God. The papers presented here, by an international team of scholars, consider the development and transformation of the cult from approximately the fourth through the twelfth centuries. The volume opens with discussion of the origins of the cult, and its Near Eastern manifestations, including the archaeological site of the Kathisma church in Palestine, which represents the earliest Marian shrine in the Holy Land, and Syriac poetic treatment of the Virgin. The principal focus, however, is on the 8th and 9th centuries in Byzantium, as a critical period when Christian attitudes toward the Virgin and her veneration were transformed. The book re-examines the relationship between icons, relics and the Virgin, asking whether increasing devotion to these holy objects or figures was related in any way. Some contributions consider the location of relics and later, icons, in Constantinople and other centres of Marian devotion; others explore gender issues, such as the significance of the Virgin's feminine qualities, and whether women and men identified with her equally as a holy figure. The aim of this volume is to build on recent work on the cult of the Virgin Mary in Byzantium and to explore areas that have not yet been studied. The rationale is critical and historical, using literary, artistic, and archaeological sources to evaluate her role in the development of the Byzantine understanding of the ways in which God interacts with creation by means of icons, relics, and the Theotokos.
