Competing Religions in Competing Landscapes: Urban, Rural, and Wild Scenery in Late Antique Cappadocia
The present article investigates how religious traditions in late antique Cappadocia approached sacred space, with attention to the peculiar geographical structure of the region. Examples, which derive mainly from the writings of the Cappadocian fathers, include: episodes from the life of Gregory Th...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Peeters
2021
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| In: |
Ephemerides theologicae Lovanienses
Year: 2021, Volume: 97, Issue: 3, Pages: 469-502 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Cappadocia
/ Wilderness areas in literature
/ Civilization
/ Church
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| IxTheo Classification: | AF Geography of religion CD Christianity and Culture KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity KBL Near East and North Africa |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The present article investigates how religious traditions in late antique Cappadocia approached sacred space, with attention to the peculiar geographical structure of the region. Examples, which derive mainly from the writings of the Cappadocian fathers, include: episodes from the life of Gregory Thaumaturgus; the shaping of a local martyrial tradition; the actual experience of ascetic communities; and the persistence and marginalisation of heretical fringe groups. These cases show how the power of controlling nature is explicitly linked to the civilising power of Christianity, and they allow a detailed socio-historical reconstruction that fits into the wider perspective of late antique religious struggles. At the same time, the interpretations of wild scenery (sometimes implicitly opposed to urban settings) were employed by the Cappadocian fathers to demonstrate that Christian morality was inherent in the natural landscape of Cappadocia. |
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| ISSN: | 1783-1423 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Ephemerides theologicae Lovanienses
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2143/ETL.97.3.3289715 |