Heroism in three Old English poems: A Christian approach

It has been contended that the value system and terminology of Old English heroic poetry were not suitable vehicles for the later religious poetry, that their Germanic garb ill-fitted the Christian poems. This view, however, does not take cognisance of the the fact that there exists a Christian heroism in its own right. Only Christian scholarship can fully account for this phenomenon and show how the subject matter of this poetry is consonant with the heroic diction and formulae in which it is couched. Three Old English poems dealing with aspects of Christ’ saving ministry will be examined to show that Christ is depicted as a hero bringing victory through suffering in God’s plan of salvation, rather than as a heroic warrior as he is usually regarded, fighting in the armour of the Germanic hero. A close study of these poems shows that the authors understood Christian heroism to mean more than brave battling on the side of God; rather, it is complete submission to the will of God

'A good education sets up a divine discontent': the contribution of St Peter's School to black South African autobiography

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Arts, 2000This thesis explores in empirical fashion the contribution made by St Peter's Secondary School to South African literary history. It takes as its starting point the phenomenon of the first black autobiographies having been published within a ten-year period from 1954 to 1963, with all but one of the male writers receiving at least part of their post-primary schooling at St Peter's School in Johannesburg. Among the texts, repositioned here within their educational context, are Tell Freedom by Peter Abrahams, Down Second Avenue by Es'kia Mphahlele, Road to Ghana by Alfred Hutchinson, and Chocolates for My Wife by Todd Matshikiza. The thesis examines the educational milieu of the inter-war years in the Transvaal over and against education in the other provinces of the Union, the Anglo-Catholic ethos of the Community of the Resurrection who established and ran the school, the pedagogical environment of St Peter's School, and the autobiographical texts themselves, in order to plot the course which the autobiographers' subsequent lives took as they wrote back to the education which had both liberated and shackled them. It equipped them far in advance of the opportunities available to them under the colour bar, necessitating exile, even as it colonised their minds in a way perhaps spared those who never attended school, requiring a continual reassessment of their identity over time. The thesis argues that their Western education was crucial in the development of their hybrid identity, what Es'kia Mphahlele has termed `the dialogue of two selves', which was in each case worked out through an autobiography. The typical, if simplified, trajectory is an enthusiastic espousal of the culture of the West encountered in their schooling at St Peter's, and then a rejection out of a sense of betrayal in favour of Africa, eventually leading to a synthesis of the two. The thesis concludes that it was the emphasis on all-round education and character formation, in the British boarding school tradition, with its thrust of sacrifice and service, which helped to fashion the strong belief systems of Abrahams and Mphahlele's later years, namely Christian socialism and African humanism, which inform their mature writings

A study of Christ and his saints as representatives of the values of Christian heroism in Old English poetry

Bibliography: pages 71-72.This dissertation investigates the concept of Christian heroism as it appears in a number of Old English poems, through a study of the figure of the miles Christi. These poems present a specific Christian heroism which, though couched in terms culled from Germanic heroism, nevertheless exists in its own right and is quite different from it. Christ and his saints are seen as heroes in themselves (Christian servants obedient to the will of God) rather than as heroic warriors as they are usually regarded (Germanic heroes fighting for a Christian cause). They are leaders and heroes in the sense of servants, and not only like kings and warriors of the Germanic code. A study of some poems from the Cynewulf canon shows that the poets understood Christian heroism to mean more than brave battling for the cause of good; in essence, it is complete submission to the will of God

A study of Christ and his saints as representatives of the values of Christian heroism in Old English poetry

Bibliography: pages 71-72.This dissertation investigates the concept of Christian heroism as it appears in a number of Old English poems, through a study of the figure of the miles Christi. These poems present a specific Christian heroism which, though couched in terms culled from Germanic heroism, nevertheless exists in its own right and is quite different from it. Christ and his saints are seen as heroes in themselves (Christian servants obedient to the will of God) rather than as heroic warriors as they are usually regarded (Germanic heroes fighting for a Christian cause). They are leaders and heroes in the sense of servants, and not only like kings and warriors of the Germanic code. A study of some poems from the Cynewulf canon shows that the poets understood Christian heroism to mean more than brave battling for the cause of good; in essence, it is complete submission to the will of God

Towards best practice in research data management in the humanities

Research problem: This investigation examined research data management (RDM) in the humanities in UK and Australian institutions to assist academic librarians in New Zealand to develop RDM services that match humanities researchers' needs. The study identified transferable international policies and practices in an under-researched knowledge domain to better support humanities data curation. Methodology: This investigation adopted a domain analytic approach, and selected information-rich policies, data curation profiles, project reports and technical plans from the UK and Australia for a qualitative document analysis and evaluation. The study was conceived as a systematic review of evidence towards best practice. Results: Humanities data or “primary materials” consist mainly of collections of digital images, texts, audio and visual recordings, although non-digital (analogue) data are common, especially in the creative arts. Humanities researchers tend to keep their primary materials on their own digital devices, in cloud storage or in physical folders and avoid using networked systems. They are generally prepared to share their data with a plurality of audiences. Humanities data curation benefits from consideration of copyright and intellectual property, curation for very long-term storage and access in a federated system, and digitisation of selected analogue data. Effective humanities RDM begins upstream in the data lifecycle with targeted training, active partnerships, and liaison on the data management plan (DMP), and requires strategic cooperation between researchers, the library and institutional/data repository, and IT services. Implications: Understanding domain-specific policies and practices in the UK and Australia for curating humanities research data will help New Zealand institutions provide normative and strategic humanities data curation. Further research might include widening the investigation to institutions in the United States and/or Europe, or ascertaining the degree of traction of domain-specific RDM in New Zealand