Old English Biblical Verse
Studies in Genesis, Exodus and Daniel

An extended study of the Old Testament poems of the Junius collection as a group.

Paul G. Remley (Author)

9780521032803, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 27 April 2007

496 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.9 cm, 0.748 kg

"This careful work provokes important questions in various fields and should prove invaluable not only for continued source study but also for many other forms of literary, historical, and religious scholarship." Susan M. Kim, Journal of Religion

This is an extended study of the Old Testament poems of the Junius collection as a group. The circumstances surrounding their composition and transmission are mysterious: none is ascribed to a named author and none situated even relatively within the development of Anglo-Saxon Christian poetry. This book seeks to breach this critical impasse by allowing the biblical content of the Junius poems to tell its own story. Paul G. Remley compares them with genuine early medieval texts that are most likely to have circulated in Anglo-Saxon centres, and sets out the full range of variants. He offers engaging exercises in hermeneutic and reader-response criticism. The introductory chapter reviews five centuries of Anglo-Saxon history. All citations of Old English, Latin, and Greek texts are accompanied by modern English translations, making the book accessible to general readers as well as specialists.

List of tables
Preface
List of abbreviations
1. Introduction
2. The biblical sources of Genesis A and B
3. Exodus and the liturgy of baptism
4. Daniel and Greek scriptural tradition
5. The renditions of Oratio Azariae and Canticum trium puerorum in Daniel
6. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]