1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910815949903321

Autore

Bitton-Ashkelony Bruria

Titolo

Encountering the sacred : the debate on Christian pilgrimage in late antiquity / / Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, : University of California Press, c2005

ISBN

1-282-35752-2

0-520-93112-2

9786612357527

1-59875-925-6

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (269 p.)

Collana

The transformation of the classical heritage ; ; 38

Disciplina

263/.0425694/09015

Soggetti

Christian pilgrims and pilgrimages - Palestine - History of doctrines - Early church, ca. 30-600

Palestine in Christianity - History of doctrines - Early church, ca. 30-600

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Preface -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1 Basil of Caesarea's and Gregory of Nyssa's Attitudes toward Pilgrimage -- 2 Jerome's Position on Pilgrimage -- 3 Augustine on Holy Space -- 4 Pilgrimage in Monastic Culture -- 5 Local versus Central Pilgrimage -- Bibliography -- General Index -- Index of Places -- Index of Biblical Citations

Sommario/riassunto

This innovative study sheds new light on one of the most spectacular changes to occur in late antiquity-the rise of pilgrimage all over the Christian world-by setting the phenomenon against the wide background of the political and theological debates of the time. Asking how the emerging notion of a sacred geography challenged the leading intellectuals and ecclesiastical authorities, Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony deftly reshapes our understanding of early Christian mentalities by unraveling the process by which a territory of grace became a territory of power. Examining ancient writers' responses to the rising practice of pilgrimage, Bitton-Ashkelony offers a nuanced reading of their thinking on the merits and the demerits of pilgrimage, revealing theological and ecclesiastical motivations that have been overlooked, and questioning



the long-held assumption of scholars that pilgrimage was only a popular, not an elite, religious practice. In addition to Greek and Latin sources, she includes Syriac material, which allows her to build a rich picture of the emerging theology of landscape that took shape over the fourth to sixth centuries.