The Art of Listening in the Early Church

AvCarol Harrison

Häftad, Engelska, 2015

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Beskrivning

How did people think about listening in the ancient world, and what evidence do we have of it in practice? The Christian faith came to the illiterate majority in the early Church through their ears. This proved problematic: the senses and the body had long been held in suspicion as all too temporal, mutable and distracting. Carol Harrison argues that despite profound ambivalence on these matters, in practice, the senses, and in particular the sense of hearing, were ultimately regarded as necessary - indeed salvific -constraints for fallen human beings. By examining early catechesis, preaching and prayer, she demonstrates that what illiterate early Christians heard both formed their minds and souls and, above all, enabled them to become 'literate' listeners; able not only to grasp the rule of faith but also tacitly to follow the infinite variations on it which were played out in early Christian teaching, exegesis and worship. It becomes clear that listening to the faith was less a matter of rationally appropriating facts and more an art which needed to be constantly practiced: for what was heard could not be definitively fixed and pinned down, but was ultimately the Word of the unknowable, transcendent God. This word demanded of early Christian listeners a response - to attend to its echoes, recollect and represent it, stretch out towards it source, and in the process, be transformed by it.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2015-05-21
Mått:152 x 231 x 17 mm
Vikt:484 g
Format:Häftad
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:320
Förlag:OUP OXFORD
ISBN:9780198744955

Utforska kategorier

Forntidens historia inom Historia och arkeologi
Religion: allmänt inom Filosofi och religion
Kristendom inom Filosofi och religion

Mer om författaren

Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity in the faculty of Theology and Religion and a canon of Christ Church, Oxford.

Recensioner i media

This book is a treasure trove of inspiring ideas, especially about the transformative power of "literature listening". It is beautifully written, almost architectonic in its structure, while also playful in many of its examples, narratives and its rich use of musical metaphors.