IMC 2011: Sessions

Session 706: Persuading the Listeners: Modes of Arguments in Missionary Texts and Hagiography

Tuesday 12 July 2011, 14.15-15.45

Moderator/Chair:	Kurt Villads Jensen, Institut for Historie, Kultur & Samfundsbeskrivelse, Syddansk Universitet, Odense
Paper 706-a	Poor in Knowledge, Rich in Faith?: Eastern and Western Missionary Approaches to the Transmission of Knowledge in Missionary Work (Language: English) Asya Bereznyak, Department of History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Index terms: Byzantine Studies, Ecclesiastical History, Religious Life, Sermons and Preaching
Paper 706-b	The Representation of Evil in the Hagiography of the Santa Cruz Monastery of Coimbra (Language: English) Ana Maria Machado, Centro de Literatura Portuguesa, Universidade de Coimbra Index terms: Hagiography, Language and Literature - Spanish or Portuguese
Paper 706-c	Preaching the Holy Cross: Humbert of Romans' Manual and Its Reception (Language: English) Valentin Portnykh, Faculty of Humanities, Novosibirsk State University Index terms: Crusades, Ecclesiastical History, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Military History
Abstract	Paper -a: Is it possible to believe in God without a certain body of knowledge? And what kind of knowledge is required in order convert pagans? By examining texts produced by Western and Byzantine missionaries in the early Middle Ages, this lecture will deal with the different approaches to the transmission of knowledge they adopted in their missionary endeavours. It will also attempt to demonstrate that the missionaries' approach to the transmission of knowledge had a long lasting impact on the character Christianity assumed in the regions they converted. Paper -b: St Teotonio, St Martin of Soure and prior Telo's Lives are three important hagiographic narratives written in the Santa Cruz Monastery of Coimbra, in the XIIe century, in the context of the foundation of the monastery. These hagiographies are focused on exemplarity and on the model of priest and pastoral action. The difficulties the saints have to face are a good sign of the spiritual and above all temporal battles they have to deal with. My goal is to study the representation of evil within the historical, spiritual and litteray context these texts were produced. Paper -c: Humbert of Romans, master general of the Dominicans until 1263, wrote a treatise about the preaching of the Holy Cross against the Saracens dated back to the 1260s. It represents a very important source which has not been very much studied. Being written in a particular context of the 13th century and exposing a viewpoint and the methods of argumentation typical for this period, it continued to circulate in the 15th century without any considerable alterations, which makes questionable its topicality and its use in this period.