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
Removing Masculine Layers to Reveal a Holy Womanhood
The Female Transvestite Monks of Late Antique Eastern Christianity
Volume 13
The Spirit, the World and the Trinity
Origen's and Augustine's Understanding of the Gospel of John
Volume 40
‘The loss of a minute is just so much loss of life’
Edward Robinson and Eli Smith in the Holy Land
Volume 39
Computus and its Cultural Context in the Latin West, AD 300-1200
Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on the Science of Computus in Ireland and Europe, Galway, 14-16 July, 2006
Volume 5
Healing not Punishment. Penitentials in the Insular Church
Historical and Pastoral Networking of the Penitentials between the Sixth and the Eighth Centuries
Volume 25
Agents in Liturgy, Charity and Communication
The Tasks of Female Deacons in the Apostolic Constitutions
Volume 37
The Christology of Theodore of Tarsus
The Laterculus Malalianus and the Person and Work of Christ
Volume 6
‘Lest She Pollute the Sanctuary’
The Influence of the Protevangelium Iacobi on Women's Status in Christianity
Volume 41
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
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