The Slow Fall of Babel: Languages and Identities in Late Antique Christianity

Description

This is the story of the transformation of the ways in which the increasingly Christianized elites of the late antique Mediterranean experienced and conceptualized linguistic differences. The metaphor of Babel stands for the magnificent edifice of classical culture that was about to reach the sky, but remained self-sufficient and self-contained in its virtual monolingualism – the paradigm within which even Latin was occasionally considered just a dialect of Greek. The gradual erosion of this vision is the slow fall of Babel that took place in the hearts and minds of a good number of early Christian writers and intellectuals who represented various languages and literary traditions. This step-by-step process included the discovery and internalization of the existence of multiple other languages in the world, as well as subsequent attempts to incorporate their speakers meaningfully into the holistic and distinctly Christian picture of the universe. Cover Half-title Title page Copyright information Dedication Contents Abbreviations Acknowledgments Introduction: Awakening to Linguistic Otherness CHAPTER 1 Meeting the Alloglottic Other: The Socio-Linguistic Landscape of the Ancient Mediterranean and the Spread of Christianity The Bilingual Roman Empire The Near East Broadly Understood Egypt North Africa Europe and the Balkans Concluding Remarks CHAPTER 2 Languages and Identities in Greco-Roman and Jewish Antiquity Languages in Ancient Greek Epics, Tragedies, and Comedies Herodotus and Beyond: Historical Narratives on Foreign Languages Foreign Languages in Philosophical Inquiries Hellenism: Assimilation of the Other The Roman Era: From a Monolingual to a Bilingual Antiquity Foreign Languages in Hellenistic Literature and Beyond Languages in Ancient Judaism: The Second Temple Period Hellenistic Judaism: Philo of Alexandria Languages in Ancient Judaism: The Rabbinic Period Languages of Revelation and Multilingualism in Rabbinic Literature Concluding Remarks CHAPTER 3 The Tower of Babel and Beyond: The Primordial Linguistic Situation, the Original Language, and the Start of Linguistic Diversification The Confusing Confusion: Making Sense of Babel Hebrew and Primordial Unilingualism Christianizing ''Hebrew'' History of the Hebrew Language in Christian Discourse History of the Hebrew Language in Christian Discourse (1): Hebrew that Ceased History of the Hebrew Language in Christian Discourse (2): Hebrew that Was Preserved History of the Hebrew Language in Christian Discourse (3): Alternatives to the Hebrew Hypothesis Beyond Hebrew: Histories of Other Languages The Language of God Tower of Babel: Blessed Catastrophe or Catastrophic Blessing? Concluding Remarks CHAPTER 4 Speaking in Tongues in Christian Late Antiquity ''Speaking in Tongues'' in Texts and Practices of the Second and Third Centuries Angelic Languages as a Solution Eusebius of Caesarea: A Turning Point Speaking in Foreign Languages Coming to Terms with the Xenolalia Interpretation of ''Speaking in Tongues'' 1. New Vocabulary 2. Languages Never Learned 3. Navigating the List of Peoples 4. Ruling Out Akolalia 5. Missionary Context 6. Reconciling Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 7. Updating Earlier Texts The Tower of Faith and the Tower of Pride: Patterns of Multilinguality Unity and Fragmentation The Use and Abuse of Tongues Concluding Remarks CHAPTER 5 Foreign Languages and the Discourse of Otherness Proto-Orthodox Christianity: Setting the Universal Frame Barbarians Old and New: Between Universalism and Cultural Superiority Languages of Christianity: Quest for Legitimacy and Authority 1. The Right to Use Language and the Competition for the Classical Legacy 2. Three Sacred Languages 3. Navigating Symbolic Hierarchies of Languages 4. Search for Authority: Summarizing the Case of Latin Linguistic Awareness and Sensitivity to Language Differences Concluding Remarks CHAPTER 6 The Languages of Saints and Demons Languages of Ascetics: Between the Grace of Knowledge and the Grace of Ignorance Xenolalia in Christian Literature of Late Antiquity 1. Disconnection of the Exegetical and Hagiographical Traditions 2. Early Greek Testimonies of Language-Related Miracles 3. Xenolalia Accounts in Syriac Literature 4. Topos of Xenolalia? Demons Speaking in Tongues Concluding Remarks Conclusion: What's in the Language? Communities of Linguistic Sensitivities Monolingual Babel to Fall Imagining the Alloglottic Other Dialect(ic)s of Christian Universalism Languages of Heretics What's Next? Bibliography Scriptural Sources Primary Sources Achilles Tatius Acts of St. Marina and St. Christopher Acts of St. Simeon Stylite Acts of Thomas Aeschylus Ambrose Ambrosiaster Antoninus of Piacenza Aphrahat Apocalypse of Paul Apophthegmata Patrum Apostolic Constitutions Apponius Aristeas: Letter to Philocrates Aristophanes Aristotle Arnobius the Younger Athanasius of Alexandria Augustine Aulus Gellius Auxentius: Epistula de Vita Ulfilae Avitus of Vienne Babrius Barsanuphius and John Basil of Caesarea Book of Jubilees Book of Steps Callimachus Cassiodorus Catenae on Genesis and Exodus Cave of Treasures Chromatius of Aquileia Claudius Marius Victorius Clement of Alexandria Commentary on Genesis-Exodus (Diyarbakir Manuscript) Consultations of Zacchaeus and Apollonius Cornelius Nepos Crates Cyril of Alexandria Cyril of Jerusalem Cyril of Scythopolis Cyrus of Edessa Didymus the Blind / Ps.-Didymus the Blind Diodorus Siculus Diogenes Laertius Diogenes of Oinoanda Dionysius of Halicarnassus Elias of Dara Ephrem the Syrian Epicurus Epiphanius of Salamis Eucherius of Lyons Eunomius of Cyzicus Euripides Eusebius of Caesarea Eustratios the Presbyter Faustus of Riez Filastrius of Brescia Fourth Memra on Joseph Fulgentius Mythographus Fulgentius of Ruspe The Funerary Oration for John Chrysostom Gaudentius of Brescia Gregory of Elvira Gregory of Nazianzus Gregory of Nyssa Gregory of Tours Gregory the Great Herodotus Hilary of Poitiers Hippolytus of Rome History of the Egyptian Monks Homer Hyginus Irenaeus Isho?dad of Merv Isidore of Seville Jacob of Sarug Jerome Jerome (Translated to Greek) Jewish Inscriptions John Cassian John Chrysostom John of Ephesus John the Lydian Jordanes Josephus Julius Africanus Justin Martyr Lactantius Lament of the Virgin Mary Leo the Great Leontius of Constantinople Letter to Diognetus Life of Aesop Life of Ahoudemmeh Life of Andrew the Holy Fool Life of Daniel the Stylite Life of Ephrem Life of Nino Life of Pachomius and Paralipomena Life of Rabbula Lucian of Samosata Lucretius Marius Victorinus Marutha of Tagrit Maximus of Turin Memra (Romance) on Alexander Midrash Rabbah Mysteries of Letters Nikephoros of Rus Optate of Milevis Origen Origen (Translated to Latin) Oxyrhynchus Papyri Pacian of Barcelona Palladius of Helenopolis Paulinus of Nola Paulinus of Perigueux Philo of Alexandria Philoxenus of Mabbug Pirqe Rabbi Eliezer Plato Plautus Pliny the Elder Plutarch Porphyry Procopius of Gaza Prophetiae Ex Omnibus Libris Collectae Prosper of Aquitaine Ps.-Amphilochius of Iconium: De Basilio Magno et S. Ephraem Syro Ps.-Clement: Recognitions Ps.-Cyprian Ps.-Eustathius Ps.-Macarius Ps.-Zacharias of Mytilene Pseudo-Jonathan Targum Quodvultdeus Rufinus of Aquileia Scriptores Historiae Augustae Second Book of Enoch Severian of Gabala Shubhalmaran Sibylline Oracles Sidonius Apollinaris Simeon Beth Arsham Sophocles Stephanus of Byzantium Stephen Bar-Sudhaile Symeon Metaphrastes Talmud Tatian Teaching of Addai Tertullian Testament of Naphtali Theodore Bar Koni Theodoret of Cyrrhus Theophilus of Antioch Thucydides Valerius Maximus Varro Venantius Fortunatus Victor of Vita Xenophon Zosimos of Panopolis Secondary Sources Index