Art, craft, and theology in fourth-century Christian authors / Morwenna Ludlow.

Author/creator Ludlow, Morwenna
Other author Oxford University Press.
Format Electronic
Publication InfoOxford : Oxford University Press, 2020.
Descriptionx, 269 pages ; 25 cm
Supplemental ContentFull text available from Oxford Scholarship Online
Subjects

SeriesOxford early Christian studies
Oxford early Christian studies.
Contents Ekphrasis: seeing things different -- Ekphrasis and decision -- The rhetoric of landscape in Gregory of Nyssa's Homilies on the Song of Song -- Ascetic landscapes and aesthetic landscapes -- Role-playing: prosōpopoeia and embodies performance -- "This is the word of the Lord" -- Women's voices? -- Talking bodies -- The workshop.
Summary Ancient authors commonly compared writing with painting. The sculpting of the soul was also a common philosophical theme. Art, Craft, and Theology in Fourth-Century Christian Authors takes its starting-point from such figures to recover a sense of ancient authorship as craft. The ancient concept of craft (ars, techne) spans 'high' or 'fine' art and practical or applied arts. It unites the beautiful and the useful. It includes both skills or practices (like medicine and music) and productive arts like painting, sculpting and the composition of texts. By using craft as a guiding concept for understanding fourth Christian authorship, this book recovers a sense of them engaged in a shared practice which is both beautiful and theologically useful, which shapes souls but which is also engaged in the production of texts. It focuses on Greek writers, especially the Cappadocians (Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nysa) and John Chrysostom, all of whom were trained in rhetoric. Through a detailed examination of their use of two particular literary techniques-ekphrasis and prosopopoeia-it shows how they adapt and experiment with them, in order to make theological arguments and in order to evoke a response from their readership.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 243-259) and index.
Access restrictionAvailable only to authorized users.
Technical detailsMode of access: World Wide Web
Issued in other formElectronic version: Ludlow, Morwenna. Art, craft, and theology in fourth-century Christian authors. First edition. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2020 9780191883217
Genre/formElectronic books.
LCCN 2019955160
ISBN0198848838 hardback
ISBN9780198848837 hardback

Availability

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Electronic Resources Access Content Online ✔ Available