Gregory of Nazianzus and Ephrem the
Syrian are both regarded as foundational poets for their respective
literary traditions. They wrote in the same period, the 4th Century, and
they both devoted a cycle of poems to a debated theme of the time:
bishops.
Aim of this work is enhancing the appreciation of these
cycles (Gregory’s carmina II, 1, 10; 12; 13; 17 and Ephrem’s carmina
nisibena 13-21) as works of literature embedded in the performance and
reading practices of the time, in theological debates on the episcopal
office and in their respective communities. The book compares
performance and transimission methods of the two corpora, the word
choice and imagery describing the episcopal office and how portraits of
real-life bishops are influenced by theological expectations on what a
bishop should be. Two chapters are devoted to literary phenomena
peculiar to each author.
This book, the first extensive
comparison of these two authors from a literary point of view, will
interest scholars of Late Antique poetry and literature, Church history
and Patristic theology. A new English translation of both corporas
constitutes the appendix.
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