Description
- Abstract:
- This study explores how Early Christian Latin hymns written between the fourth and sixth centuries harnessed the power of song for instruction. I argue that these hymns relied on ritual strategies to influence those performing and hearing them, and I develop a new methodology for understanding ritual elements embedded within texts. Using a temporal framework established by theorists of myth and ritual in combination with Paul Ricoeur’s theories of time, I distinguish between mythical time, phenomenological time, and ritual time, and I demonstrate how the texts of early Christian Latin hymns include markers for each of these temporal elements. I observe how these elements taken together foreground a temporal alignment between the mythical and the phenomenological mediated through the ritual moment. The purpose of this ritual alignment, I argue, is to create a sense that myth becomes enacted within the lived experience of those performing the hymns, and I draw attention to markers of enactment embedded within the texts as well. Ultimately, the mechanisms of alignment and enactment serve as a mode of instruction for believers by promoting a sense that myth permeates their ordinary experience and encouraging them to accept this mythical framework as ontological reality. The significance of this structure lies in its potential to convey complex theological ideas to a broader non-elite audience. Each chapter of this study explores the mechanisms of alignment and enactment within one hymn in order to explain how they work as tools of instruction. I begin by considering Ambrose’s Hymn III for the daily office of the third hour because it offers the clearest demonstration of markers for alignment. The second chapter focuses on Prudentius’ Cathemerinon XI for Christmas because it allows us to see the markers for enactment most clearly. In the third chapter, the liturgical adaptations to Sedulius’ Hymn II highlight the importance of temporal alignment for creating enactment. Finally, Fortunatus’ Carmen II.2 allows us to expand the model by considering another mode of alignment, in this case around the object of a relic.<br/>
- Notes:
- Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2012)
Access Conditions
- Rights
- In Copyright
- Restrictions on Use
- Collection is open for research.
Citation
McGill, Robin E.,
"Aligning Myth and Experience: The Sanctification of Time in Early Christian Latin Hymns"
(2012).
Classics Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z02B8W9Z
