Saints and Sinners in Early Christian Ireland
Moral Theology in the Lives of Saints Brigit and Columba
By (author) Katja Ritari
In this volume, Katja Ritari shows how a theological reading of hagiography works towards gaining a fuller understanding of the complexity of issues that can be addressed in a hagiographical narrative and of the aims of the medieval authors. The three texts examined in this study belong to the earliest stratum of hagiographical writing in Ireland and thus provide evidence of the formation of an Irish Christian society. This work presents a fresh look at the earliest Lives of saints Brigit and Columba concentrating on moral theology through the image of an ideal Christian and his or her antithesis. In hagiography, the saint is presented as the paragon of perfect Christian behaviour, but the moral message concerning ideal Christian living can also be conveyed through the minor characters which populate the Lives as companions of the saint, and as witnesses and receivers of the effects of his or her miracles. This study is groundbreaking because it turns attention towards the portrayal of these characters, especially towards the lay people whose role in hagiography has thus far been neglected in scholarly studies. The topic of this study- a good Christian life- is a fundamental spiritual and theological question that has relevance to all Christians. It is a central question to the formation of a Christian identity and its soteriological significance makes it a focal theological issue.
- By (author) Katja Ritari
Other Titles in this Series
Bonds and Boundaries among the Early Churches
Community Maintenance in the Letter of James and the Didache
Volume 29
The Discovery of the Individual
Post-Chalcedonian Christological Debates and the Dawn of Scholasticism in Early-Byzantine Thought
Volume 68
Late Antique Calendrical Thought and its Reception in the Early Middle Ages
Proceedings from the Third International Conference on the Science of Computus in Ireland and Europe, Galway, 16-18 July, 2010
Volume 26
Ephrem, a ‘Jewish’ Sage
A Comparison of the Exegetical Writings of St. Ephrem the Syrian and Jewish Traditions
Volume 7
The Anthropology of St Gregory Palamas
The Image of God, the Spiritual Senses, and the Human Body
Volume 38
Cyril of Alexandria’s Christological Exegesis
Explorations of Partitive Exegesis in the Dialogues on the Trinity
Volume 70
From Topography to Text
The Image of Jerusalem in the Writings of Eucherius, Adomnan and Bede
Volume 30
Early Medieval Ireland and Europe: Chronology, Contacts, Scholarship
Festschrift for Daibhi O Croinin
Volume 14
Tabernacle, Table, Ark, and Text
Richard of Saint Victor on the Interpretation of Scripture
Volume 67
Meditations of the Heart: The Psalms in Early Christian Thought and Practice
Essays in Honour of Andrew Louth
Volume 8
‘Vigilemus et Oremus’
The Theological Significance of 'Keeping Vigil' in Rome from the Fourth to the Eighth Centuries
Volume 42
Analogical Identities
The Creation of the Christian Self: Volume 2: Self-catholicization, Meta-narcissism, and Christian Theology
Volume 57
The Easter Controversy of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Its Manuscripts, Texts, and Tables
Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on the Science of Computus, Galway, 18-20 July, 2008
Volume 10
My God, my God why have you abandoned me
The experience of God's withdrawal in late antique exegesis, Christology and ascetic literature
Volume 43
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The Therapeutae as the Best Paradigm for the Contemplative Life
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