IMC 2019: Sessions
Session 1508: Hope and Uncertainty in Medieval Europe and the Near East, I: Hope and Anticipation in the Early Medieval West
Thursday 4 July 2019, 09.00-10.30
Sponsor: | Sonderforschungsbereich 'Visions of Community' (Austrian Science Fund, FWF F42) |
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Organiser: | Rutger Kramer, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien |
Moderator/Chair: | Matthew Gabriele, Department of Religion & Culture, Virginia Tech |
Paper 1508-a | Projecting Hope onto the Early Middle Ages (Language: English) Index terms: Hagiography, Historiography - Medieval, Mentalities, Theology |
Paper 1508-b | Future Tense: The Social Meanings of Hope in Frankish Narrative Sources (Language: English) Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Mentalities, Political Thought, Rhetoric |
Paper 1508-c | Hopeful Legislation: Canon Law and a Future We Can Believe In (Language: English) Index terms: Canon Law, Law, Political Thought, Theology |
Paper 1508-d | Easing the Way to Heaven: Everyday Hope in Carolingian Pastoral Compendia (Language: English) Index terms: Daily Life, Local History, Mentalities, Theology |
Abstract | These papers address the way hope provides people with tools for formulating ways to overcome perceived challenges between them and their aspirations in the Early Medieval world. Wieser starts by explaining the various meanings of hope in patristic texts and how these impacted the writings of intellectuals in the Frankish world. Kramer then addresses the way 'hope' is used by Frankish historiographers as a narrative agent propelling history towards the present, to provide a justification for past actions. Meeder looks at systematic collections of canon law, arguing that their universalising and legalistic rhetoric obscured comprehensive attempts at social engineering in pursuit of a better future. Van Rhijn analyses the interplay between hope and regulation in pastoral manuscripts, showing how local priests ventured beyond the merely ritual to perform pastoral care, which entailed more than strictly religious concerns. |