Conversing with Angels and Ancients

Conversing with Angels and Ancients PDF Author: Joseph Falaky Nagy
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501729055
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
How does a written literature come into being within an oral culture, and how does such a literature achieve and maintain its authority? Joseph Falaky Nagy addresses those issues in his wide-ranging reading of the medieval literature of Ireland, from the writings of St. Patrick to the epic tales about the warrior Cú Chulainn. These texts, written in both Latin and Irish, constitute an adventurous and productive experiment in staging confrontations between the written and the spoken, the Christian and the pagan. The early Irish literati, primarily clerics living within a monastic milieu, produced literature that included saints' lives, heroic sagas, law tracts, and other genres. They sought to invest their literature with an authority different from that of the traditions from which they borrowed, native and foreign. To achieve this goal, they cast many of their texts as the outcome of momentous dialogues between saints and angelic messengers or remarkable interviews with the dead, who could reveal some insight from the past that needed to be rediscovered by forgetful contemporaries. Conversing with angels and ancients, medieval Irish writers boldly inscribed their visions of the past onto the new Christian order and its literature. Nagy includes portions of the original Latin and Irish texts that are not readily available to scholars, along with full translations.

Conversing with Angels and Ancients

Conversing with Angels and Ancients PDF Author: Joseph Falaky Nagy
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501729055
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
How does a written literature come into being within an oral culture, and how does such a literature achieve and maintain its authority? Joseph Falaky Nagy addresses those issues in his wide-ranging reading of the medieval literature of Ireland, from the writings of St. Patrick to the epic tales about the warrior Cú Chulainn. These texts, written in both Latin and Irish, constitute an adventurous and productive experiment in staging confrontations between the written and the spoken, the Christian and the pagan. The early Irish literati, primarily clerics living within a monastic milieu, produced literature that included saints' lives, heroic sagas, law tracts, and other genres. They sought to invest their literature with an authority different from that of the traditions from which they borrowed, native and foreign. To achieve this goal, they cast many of their texts as the outcome of momentous dialogues between saints and angelic messengers or remarkable interviews with the dead, who could reveal some insight from the past that needed to be rediscovered by forgetful contemporaries. Conversing with angels and ancients, medieval Irish writers boldly inscribed their visions of the past onto the new Christian order and its literature. Nagy includes portions of the original Latin and Irish texts that are not readily available to scholars, along with full translations.

On My Right Michael, On My Left Gabriel

On My Right Michael, On My Left Gabriel PDF Author: Mika Ahuvia
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520380118
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
Introduction : angelic greetings or Shalom Aleichem -- At home with the angels : Babylonian ritual sources -- Out and about with the angels : Palestinian ritual sources -- No angels? early rabbinic sources -- In the image of God, not angels : rabbinic sources -- In the image of the angels : liturgical sources -- Israel among the angels : Late rabbinic sources -- Jewish mystics and the angelic realms : early mystical sources -- Conclusion : angels in Judaism and the religions of late antiquity -- Appendix A : table -- Appendix B : description of table.

The Ancient Tradition of Angels

The Ancient Tradition of Angels PDF Author: Normandi Ellis
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1591434408
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description
An in-depth study into the mystery and purpose of angels • Explains that angels are beings of light consciousness, here to help our individual and planetary cosmic evolution • Explores angels from Judeo-Christian and Islamic faiths, Hinduism and Buddhism, the beliefs of ancient Egypt, Yezidism, and Zoroastrianism as well as what Theosophists, Kabbalists, Sufi masters, Eastern gurus, and modern mystics like Edgar Cayce have recounted about angels • Examines contemporary angelic encounters, including the author’s own interactions with angels, and also looks at the purpose of dark angels and fallen angels From the divine messengers of Western traditions to the devas of Eastern traditions to the meleks and spirit beings found along the Silk Road, angels are one of the unifying themes of theology worldwide. But what is an angel, and why do they contact us, believers and nonbelievers alike? In this in-depth study into the mystery and purpose of angels, Normandi Ellis looks at the angelic dimensions of spiritual traditions around the world—from the ancient past to present day. She explores well-known angels from Judeo-Christian and Islamic faiths, the Hindu devata and Buddhist spirit beings, the spirit beings of ancient Egypt, the Peacock Angel of Yezidism, and the yazatas of Zoroastrianism. She compares angelic visions from medieval Christians like Thomas Aquinas and John of Damascus with what Theosophists, kabbalists, Sufi masters, Eastern gurus, and modern mystics like Edgar Cayce have recounted about angels. She looks at dark and fallen angels and their role in the grand cosmological plan. Quoting from sacred traditions, narrative myth, and contemporary angelic encounters, including her own personal interactions with angels, the author clarifies the divergent aspects of angelic beliefs but also reveals the common points shared by all traditions. Ellis shows how, in whatever guise they appear, angels are messengers. She explains that angels are beings of light consciousness, part of the universal life force that connects all beings. And not only are angels actively helping in our planet’s cosmic evolution, they also help us see our own place in the cosmic plan.

Angels in Early Medieval England

Angels in Early Medieval England PDF Author: Richard Sowerby
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191088129
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Book Description
In the modern world, angels can often seem to be no more than a symbol, but in the Middle Ages men and women thought differently. Some offered prayers intended to secure the angelic assistance for the living and the dead; others erected stone monuments carved with images of winged figures; and still others made angels the subject of poetic endeavour and theological scholarship. This wealth of material has never been fully explored, and was once dismissed as the detritus of a superstitious age. Angels in Medieval England offers a different perspective, by using angels as a prism through which to study the changing religious culture of an unfamiliar age. Focusing on one corner of medieval Europe which produced an abundance of material relating to angels, Richard Sowerby investigates the way that ancient beliefs about angels were preserved and adapted in England during the Anglo-Saxon period. Between the sixth century and the eleventh, the convictions of Anglo-Saxon men and women about the world of the spirits underwent a gradual transformation. This book is the first to explore that transformation, and to show the ways in which the Anglo-Saxons tried to reconcile their religious inheritance with their own perspectives about the world, human nature, and God.

In Search of Ancient Ireland

In Search of Ancient Ireland PDF Author: Carmel McCaffrey
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee
ISBN: 1461655692
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
This engaging book traces the history, archaeology, and legends of ancient Ireland from 9000 B.C., when nomadic hunter-gatherers appeared in Ireland at the end of the last Ice Age to 1167 A.D., when a Norman invasion brought the country under control of the English crown for the first time. So much of what people today accept as ancient Irish history—Celtic invaders from Europe turning Ireland into a Celtic nation; St. Patrick driving the snakes from Ireland and converting its people to Christianity—is myth and legend with little basis in reality. The truth is more interesting. The Irish, as the authors show, are not even Celtic in an archaeological sense. And there were plenty of bishops in Ireland before a British missionary called Patrick arrived. But In Search of Ancient Ireland is not simply the story of events from long ago. Across Ireland today are festivals, places, and folk customs that provide a tangible link to events thousands of years past. The authors visit and describe many of these places and festivals, talking to a wide variety of historians, scholars, poets, and storytellers in the very settings where history happened. Thus the book is also a journey on the ground to uncover ten thousand years of Irish identity. In Search of Ancient Ireland is the official companion to the three-part PBS documentary series. With 14 black-and-white photos, 6 b&w illustrations, and 1 map.

The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours

The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours PDF Author: Gregory Nagy
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674241681
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 657

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Book Description
The ancient Greeks’ concept of “the hero” was very different from what we understand by the term today. In 24 installments, based on the Harvard course Nagy has taught and refined since the 1970s, The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours explores civilization’s roots in Classical literature—a lineage that continues to challenge and inspire us.

Angels in Late Ancient Christianity

Angels in Late Ancient Christianity PDF Author: Ellen Muehlberger
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199931941
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Ellen Muehlberger explores the diverse and inventive ideas Christians held about angels in late antiquity. During the fourth and fifth centuries, Christians began experimenting with new modes of piety, adapting longstanding forms of public authority to Christian leadership and advancing novel ways of cultivating body and mind to further the progress of individual Christians. Muehlberger argues that in practicing these new modes of piety, Christians developed new ways of thinking about angels. The book begins with a detailed examination of the two most popular discourses about angels that developed in late antiquity. In the first, delineated by Christians cultivating certain kinds of ascetic practices, angels were one type of being among many in a shifting universe, and their primary purpose was to guard and to guide Christians. In the other, articulated by urban Christian leaders in contest with one another, angels were morally stable characters described in the emerging canon of Scripture, available to enable readers to render Scripture coherent with emerging theological positions. Muehlberger goes on to show how these two discourses did not remain isolated in separate spheres of cultivation and contestation, but influenced one another and the wider Christian culture. She offers in-depth analysis of popular biographies written in late antiquity, of the community standards of emerging monastic communities, and of the training programs developed to prepare Christians to participate in ritual, demonstrating that new ideas about angels shaped and directed the formation of the definitive institutions of late antiquity. Angels in Late Ancient Christianity is a meticulous and thorough study of early Christian ideas about angels, but it also offers a different perspective on late ancient Christian history, arguing that angels were central rather than peripheral to the emergence of Christian institutions and Christian culture in late antiquity.

Angels, Archangels and Angel Categories

Angels, Archangels and Angel Categories PDF Author: A. Nyland
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781456349325
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 118

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Book Description
Are you tired of reading conflicting reports about angels? Do you read about angels only to discover that the author relied on fiction works and not ancient sources? In this easy to read book, Dr. Nyland looks at actual ancient sources about angels, archangels, and angel categories such as cherubim, seraphim, the Watchers, the "sons of God," and the Nephilim. If you want to get the facts about angels, this book is for you.

Landscape with Two Saints

Landscape with Two Saints PDF Author: Lisa M. Bitel
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199887489
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Lisa Bitel uses the history of two unique holy women--Genovefa of Paris (ca. 420-509) and Brigit of Kildare (ca.452-524)--to reveal how ordinary Europeans lived through Christianization at the dawn of the Middle Ages. Most converts did not have a sudden epiphany, Bitel argues. Instead they learned and lived their new religion in continuous conversation with preachers, saints, rulers, and neighbors. Together, they built their faith over many years, brick by brick, into their churches and shrines, cemeteries, houses, and even their markets and farms.

Invoking Angels

Invoking Angels PDF Author: Claire Fanger
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 0271051434
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
"A collection of essays examining medieval and early modern texts aimed at performing magic or receiving illumination via the mediation of angels. Includes discussion of Jewish, Christian and Muslim texts"--Provided by publisher.