The Symbolics of Death and the Construction of Christian Asceticism: Greek Patristic Voices from the Fourth through Seventh Centuries

This thesis examines the role which death plays in the development of a uniquely Christian identity in John Climacus’ seventh-century work, the Ladder of Divine Ascent and the Greek ascetic literature of the previous centuries. I argue that John Climacus deploys language of death, inherited from a range of Greek Christian literature, as the symbolic framework within which he describes the ascetic lifestyle as developing a Christian identity. This framework is expressed by thee ascetic practice of ‘memory of death’ and by practices of renunciation described as ‘death’ to oneself and others. In order to understand Climacus’ unique achievement in regard to engagement with death it is necessary first to situate the Ladder and its author within the literature of the Greek ascetic tradition, within which Climacus consciously wrote. In the Introduction I develp ways Climacus draws on and develops traditional material, while arguing that it must be treated and interpreted in its own right and not simply as his ‘sources.’ I then examine the vocabulary of death and the lines of thought opened up in the New Testament. Chapter One argues that the memory of death plays an important role in Athanasius’ Vita Antonii. Chapter Two surveys material from the fifth- and sixth-century Egyptian and Palestinian deserts in which memory and practice of death are deployed in a wider variety of ways and are increasingly connected to ascetics’ fundamental understanding of self and salvation. Chapter Three examines the sixth-century Quaestiones et Responsiones of Barsanuphius and John of Gaza in which further elaboration of the same thematic is discernible. Chapter Four concludes this thesis with a sustained reading of John Climacus’ Scala Paradisi in which the various thematics centring on memory and practice of death are synthesized into the existential framework and practical response, respectively

Spiritual direction as a medical art in early Christian monasticism

This book asks how early Christian monastic writers conceived of, represented, and experienced spiritual direction, and its central argument is that they did so medically. Late antique monastic formation took place through asymmetrical relationships of governance and submission worked out in confession, discipline, and advice. This study situates those practices against the cultural and intellectual world of the late antique Mediterranean. In conversation with a biopsychosocial model of health and Urie Bronfenbrenner’s “bioecological” model of development, the first chapter explores the logic of Galenic medicine (2nd c.): the goal of good health, a widely ranging theory of human nature, diagnostic strategies, and therapeutic techniques. The next four chapters show how this logic operates in Evagrius Ponticus’ (4th c.) interpretation of dream imagery and demonic attack, in John Cassian’s (5th c.) analysis of wet dreams, in Cassian’s nosology of vices, and in John Climacus’ (7th c.) demonic pathologies of passions. The second half of the book engages Paul Ricoeur’s theory of metaphor to show that spiritual directors claim trust and obedience by cultivating expertise along medical lines. This begins with a study of self-representation and popular perceptions of physicians as experts over human bodies and souls, which is then applied to Basil of Caesarea’s (4th c.) advice on when and whether ascetic Christians should seek medical assistance, to Cassian’s tales of spiritual direction in Egyptian monasticism and the Apostle Paul’s therapeutic hierarchy, and to John Climacus’ multiple metaphors of spiritual direction in a monastery reconceived as clinic

The meaning of κλύστας and the value of a μαχαίριον: Vita Dosithei (BHG 2117) and healthcare in Gazan monasteries

La Vie de Dosithée (Vita Dosithei, chap. 9; BHG 2117) comporte un mot grec inhabituel: τὰς κλύστας. Jusqu’à présent, ce mot avait été mal compris, et l’on estimait qu’il désignait du pain trempé dans du vin. L’A. établit que cette interprétation, ainsi que la tradition lexicographique byzantine qui la soustend, ne sont pas tenables. Il démontre que le couteau (μαχαίριον) dont le texte parle est un scalpel, utilisé pour l’ablation de κλυστήρας ou κύστας. Dans un premier cas, le scalpel était destiné à préparer des lavements; dans le second, il servait à enlever des calculs. Dans les deux cas, l’organe susceptible d’etre entaille est une vessie. Cette mise au point lexicale permet de considérer la Vie de Dosithée comme un témoignage précieux, et jusqu’ici sous-estimé, sur le niveau et la gamme de soins de santé pratiqués dans les monastères byzantins de l’Antiquité tardive, ainsi que sur les réseaux de patronage à Gaza

The Museum of Renaissance Music: A History in 100 Exhibits

This book collates 100 exhibits with accompanying essays as an imaginary museum dedicated to the musical cultures of Renaissance Europe, at home and in its global horizons. It is a history through artefacts—materials, tools, instruments, art objects, images, texts, and spaces—and their witness to the priorities and activities of people in the past as they addressed their world through music. The result is a history by collage, revealing overlapping musical practices and meanings—not only those of the elite, but reflecting the everyday cacophony of a diverse culture and its musics. Through the lens of its exhibits, this museum surveys music’s central role in culture and lived experience in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Europe, offering interest and insights well beyond the strictly musicological field