Regular price £40.19 GBP
Regular price Sale price £40.19 GBP
Sale Sold out
Free UK Shipping

Freshly Printed - allow 7 days lead

Preaching Apocrypha in Anglo-Saxon England

Brandon Hawk (Author)

9781487503055

Hardback, published 26 June 2018

296 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.58 kg

Preaching Apocrypha in Anglo-Saxon England is the first in-depth study of Christian apocrypha focusing specifically on the use of extra-biblical narratives in Old English sermons. The work contributes to our understanding of both the prevalence and importance of apocrypha in vernacular preaching, by assessing various preaching texts from Continental and Anglo-Saxon Latin homiliaries, as well as vernacular collections like the Vercelli Book, the Blickling Book, Ælfric’s Catholic Homilies, and other manuscripts from the tenth through twelfth centuries.

Vernacular sermons were part of a media ecology that included Old English poetry, legal documents, liturgical materials, and visual arts. Situating Old English preaching within this network establishes the range of contexts, purposes, and uses of apocrypha for diverse groups in Anglo-Saxon society: cloistered religious, secular clergy, and laity, including both men and women. Apocryphal narratives did not merely survive on the margins of culture, but thrived at the heart of mainstream Anglo-Saxon Christianity.

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction: Seeking Out Gold in the Mud

Chapter 1: Homiliaries, Apocrypha, and Preaching Networks
Chapter 2: Apostles, Trinity, and Reform in Blickling 15
Chapter 3: Ælfric and Correct Doctrine
Chapter 4: Translating Jesus in Text and Image
Chapter 5: A Network Microcosm in Bodley 343

Conclusion: Mediating Tradition
Excursus on Terminology
Appendices

View full details