Preaching after Easter: Mid-Pentecost, Ascension, and Pentecost in Late Antiquity

503 Pages·2016·5.21 MB·English

by  Richard W. Bishop

Preaching after Easter
Supplements
to
Vigiliae Christianae
Texts and Studies of Early Christian Life and Language
Editorial Board
J. den Boeft
B.D. Ehrman
K. Greschat
J. Lössl
J. van Oort
D.T. Runia
C. Scholten
VOLUME 136
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/vcs
Preaching after Easter
Mid-Pentecost, Ascension, and
Pentecost in Late Antiquity
Edited by
Richard W. Bishop, Johan Leemans,
and Hajnalka Tamas
with the assistance of
Liesbeth Van der Sypt
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Preaching after Easter: Mid-Pentecost, Ascension, and Pentecost in Late Antiquity
(Conference) (2013 : Louvain, Belgium) | Bishop, Richard W. (Post-doctoral Fellow), editor.
Title: Preaching after Easter : mid-Pentecost, Ascension, and Pentecost in late antiquity /
edited by Richard W. Bishop, Johan Leemans, and Hajnalka Tamas ; with the assistance
of Liesbeth Van der Sypt.
Description: Boston : Brill, 2016. | Series: Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae : texts and studies
of early Christian life and language, ISSN 0920-623X ; volume 136 | English, French,
and German. | “Papers delivered at a conference with the same title held in Leuven in
March 2013.” | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016011223 (print) | LCCN 2016015106 (ebook) | ISBN 9789004315532
(hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9789004315549 (E-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Preaching—History—Early church, ca. 30–600—Congresses. | Pentecost season—
Sermons. | Pentecost season—Sermons—Congresses. | Jesus Christ—Ascension—Sermons. |
Jesus Christ—Ascension—Sermons—Congresses.
Classification: LCC BV4300.5 .P74 2013 (print) | LCC BV4300.5 (ebook) | DDC 251.009—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016011223
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issn 0920-623x
isbn 978-90-04-31553-2 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-31554-9 (e-book)
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations x
List of Contributors xvii
Introduction 1
Preaching after Easter: Fresh Perspectives on an Understudied Topic
Richard W. Bishop and Johan Leemans
Part 1
Towards a Festal History 
1 Pentekoste, Pfingsten und Himmelfahrt 15
Grunddaten und Fragen zur Frühgeschichte
Harald Buchinger
Part 2
Mid-Pentecost 
2 Das Mesopentekoste-Fest 87
Bezeugung, Charakter, Entstehung
Martin Kaiser
3 Les sermons de Pierre Chrysologue sur la Mi-Pentecôte (LXXXV et
LXXXVbis) 104
Un état de la question
Jean-Marie Auwers
4 Die (pseudo-amphilochianische) Mesopentekoste-Predigt
CPG 3236 120
Martin Kaiser
vi contents
Part 3
Ascension 
5 La fête de l’Ascension à Antioche d’après l’homélie de Jean
Chrysostome In Ascensionem Christi 141
Nathalie Rambault
6 Augustine’s Homiletic Appreciation of the Feast of the
Ascension 158
Preaching on Christological Orthodoxy, Divine Soteriology and the
Moral Life Forty Days after Easter (serm. 261–265F)
Anthony Dupont
7 The Authorship, Thematics, and Reception of an Ascension Sermon
Attributed to Proclus of Constantinople (CPG 5820) 185
Richard W. Bishop
Part 4
Pentecost 
8 Pentecost and Shavuot – Holy Spirit and Torah 219
The Quest for Traces of a Dialogue between Jews and Christians about
a Shared but Separating Festival
Clemens Leonhard
9 Pentecost Homilies and Late-Antique Christian Exegesis 242
Martin Meiser
10 The Relative Routine of Preaching 269
Pneumatomachians in Greek Patristic Sermons on Pentecost
Johan Leemans
11 Pentecost According to Severian of Gabala 293
Sever J. Voicu
contents vii
12 Unitas Omnibus Linguis Loquitur 304
An Unidentified Augustinian Sermon on Pentecost
Clemens Weidmann
13 The Pentecost Feast in Sixth-Century Antioch 323
The Evidence of Patriarch Severus (512–518)
Pauline Allen
14 Ecrire du Chrysostome 334
L’exemple de l’homélie 2 Sur la Pentecôte (CPG 4343.2)
Nathalie Rambault
15 Pentecost and the Senses 346
A Hermeneutical Contribution to the Visual Medium and the Sensorium
in Early Medieval Manuscript Tradition
Barbara Baert
Part 5
Liturgical Theology: The Example of Leo the Great 
16 The Resurrection of the Body in Leo the Great’s Ascension and
Pentecost Homilies 373
Bronwen Neil
17 Paschal Joy Continued 386
Exploring Leo the Great’s Theology of Christ’s Ascension into Heaven
Joris Geldhof
Part 6
Notes on Three Recently Edited Greek Ascension Sermons 
18 Evidence of Authenticity 407
Severian of Gabala, In ascensionem Domini (CPG 5028)
Sever J. Voicu
viii contents
19 CPG 4908 In S. Ascensionem Domini Nostri et Salvatoris Iesu
Christi 425
Pauline Allen
20 L’homélie In Ascensionem CPG 4988 et son attribution à Jean
Chrysostome 430
Nathalie Rambault
Index of Modern Authors 439
Scriptural Index 447
Index of Sources 456
Acknowledgements
The contributions in this volume go back to papers delivered at a conference
with the same title held in Leuven in March 2013. The papers have been rewrit-
ten for publication. They were peer-reviewed and the authors have taken great
pains in incorporating in their final version as many of the comments as pos-
sible. The result is, we hope, a worthy addition to the still quite slim body of
scholarship on sermons on Mid-Pentecost, Ascension and Pentecost in Late
Antiquity.
At this juncture it is a pleasant duty to thank everybody who has made the
conference and this publication possible. First of all we must give thanks to
the Research Fund of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The Research Fund
gave a most generous subsidy to the research project Preaching after Easter: an
Interdisciplinary Analysis of Greek Festal Sermons on Ascension and Pentecost
(ca. 350–600 AD) (OT/09/003), and much of the preparatory research for the
conference was done by Dr. Rich Bishop, the main collaborator of this research
project. A further, second volume, containing translations of these sermons,
is in preparation. Secondly, I would like to thank the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung,
which has given us generous financial support to cover the travel and accomo-
dation costs of the participants to the conference.
We are pleased that our book is published in the Supplements to Vigiliae
Christianae. Thanks go to Prof. Dr. Jan den Boeft, the series editor, to Brill’s
publishing managers, Mrs. Mattie Kuiper and Mrs. Tessa Schild, and to Brill’s
production editor, Mr. Arco den Heijer, for the smooth cooperation during the
publication process of our book.
Johan Leemans