class 2 methodologies ann t. orlando sept. 11, 2008

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Class 2 Methodologies Ann T. Orlando Sept. 11, 2008

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Class 2Methodologies

Ann T. Orlando

Sept. 11, 2008

Outline

History Hermeneutical methods

– History, philosophy and language

‘Pre-judgment’ for this week’s readings

Historical Divisions

Late Antiquity (1st C – 5th C) Middle Ages (5th C – 14th C) Renaissance and Reformation (14th C – 17th

C) Modernity (17th C – 20th C) NB This class is focused on currents in

Western Christian intellectual development

Caution About Historical Divisions

Historical periods are very arbitrary Every scholar has own view on beginning

and end– Completely dependent on criteria for defining a

period– May also be dependent on the thesis that

historian is trying to prove Primary criteria for this class: use (or abuse)

of Augustine

Late Antiquity

Roman Empire Philosophically, Hellenism at its height

– Stoics, Epicureans, Skeptics, NeoPlatonists

What is old is valuable; the older the better– Roman tolerance of Jews– Roman intolerance of Christianity

Emphasis on individual duties to society, not individual rights

Roman Empire Reign of Diocletian (r. 284-305)www.biblestudy.org/maps/romandio.html

End of Late Antiquity

End of Roman Empire in West– Sack of Rome 410– Abdication of last Roman Emperor in Rome 476– Continues as ‘Byzantine’ in East until 1453

Fracturing of Roman political rule across Europe and Western Mediterranean

– Bishops become the de facto civil magistrates Triumph of Catholic Christianity as the religious,

educational and judicial authority in West– Suppression of Donatists and Arians

5th Century Invasions

Middle Ages (5th C – 14th C)

Rise of Islam in southern and eastern Mediterranean (622) Europe becomes Atlantic, not Mediterranean Europe divorced from intellectual activity in Byzantium

– Early exceptions like Maximus Confessor (580-662) and John of Damascus (676-780)

– Seventh Ecumenical Council 787 Consolidation of education in Church schools: universities

– Reassessment of ancient philosophy– Theology most important field of study and intellectual disputes

Conflict over rights of Pope and rights of Kings– Lay investiture of bishops– Anointing of Kings

Unified religious culture in Europe– Consolidation against Islamic threat

Europe in 11th Cwww.fordham.edu/halsall/maps/1090map.htm

Renaissance and Reformation (14th C – 17th C)

Begins when Petrarch reads Augustine’s Confessions (April 26, 1336)

Weakening of Church’s hold on education and culture

Some intellectual activity shifts from Church and universities to courts, aristocracy and informal societies

Questioning scholasticism (Aristotle) Rediscovery of ancient texts

– Studies in philology rather than philosophy– Revived importance of rhetoric

Modernity (17th C – 20th C)

Begins with Descartes (1596-1650)– “I went to the library to read the passage of St. Augustine…the two

are quite different” Letter to Colvius (November 14, 1640) ‘Science’ reduced in meaning to natural science Progress: ‘History is Dead’ Rise of Arianism, Unitarianism, Deism, Atheism Nation-States; rise of European global influence Emphasis on individual, liberalism as driver of social politics Universities divorce themselves from religion or marginalize it

Class Methods

Hermeneutics Reader Response

Major Contributor to Hermeneutics: Augustine

Theory of Signs (On Christian Teaching)– Words signify things– Signs point to mental images held in our memory

Rules for interpretation (On Christian Teaching)– Interpreter needs to decipher written signs to get to their proper meaning– Rules for proper understanding of obscure Biblical texts

Inner word and the spoken word (Trinity)– Spoken word (written text) is an imperfect instance of the mental or interior

word– Only perfect spoken Word: Jesus Christ– Sacraments as material words– Only at the beatific vision will complete understanding be attained (City of

God)

Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900 – 2002)

Student of Heidegger Opposed to notion that ‘scientific method’ can be applied to human

sciences, especially history, philosophy and literature Human sciences rooted in language (not mathematics) Understand the human sciences in terms of culture and education:

hermeneutical circle Culture and education now shaped by preceding culture and education

(history) gives people in society necessary pre-understanding Classic: we approach a classic with the cultural judgment that the text

has authority– Wirkungsgeschichte: The effect of a classic in subsequent generations– Application of the text to current circumstance

Critics of Gadamer

Jurgen Habermas (b. 1929)– Endurance of classics may not be because of enduring

value, but because reinforce power structures– Texts can distort understanding– Example: Augustine and Donatists

Jacques Derrida (1930 – 2004)– Language changes; each person creates own meaning

from language– Questions ability to find common ‘truth’ across history and

peoples– Deconstruction

E.D. Hirsch (b. 1928)Important Variation on Gadamer

Distinction between – Meaning of text – Significance of text

Meaning relates to author’s intent (historical critical method)– Historical context of text– Why did author write text, to whom– Issues author addressing in his own time

Significance relates to later reception and understanding of text– Historical circumstances of reader– Why read the text– How was the text used

‘Meaning’ is fixed but ‘significance’ can change over time Fundamentally this course is about comparing Augustine’s meaning

with later significance

Literary Criticism: Reception Theory

More to understanding a text than historical criticism Hans Jauss: Emphasize relation between literature

and history as an ongoing process Wolfgang Iser: Emphasize relation between reader

and text– Implied reader (who the text was written for initially)– Real reader

Preliminary Categories of Significance of Augustine to Later Authors

Based on Jauss, but tailored by me– Something we should refine in this class

Admiration: The perfect saint and teacher – Categorical acceptance– Imitation– Edifying

Sympathetic: The imperfect saint– Accept, but not unquestioning– Recognizes (creates?) limits to applicability– Secondary source

Rejection: Anti-saint– Broad opposition based on fundamental ideological differences– Alienation, strong rhetorical language

Ignore: Augustine not important

Our Method of Analysis

Augustine– Who is his implied reader (probably)?– Why is he writing this?– What are the historical, social or cultural circumstances of his work?– What is the meaning of his work

Later authors– What is the meaning of their work?– Who are their readers? – Why are they being addressed? – What are the historical, social or cultural influences on their work?– Do they quote Augustine directly, or indirectly? Why?– Do they use Augustine accurately, expand on Augustine or advance some agenda foreign to

Augustine?– What is significance of Augustine in their work?

Ourselves as readers– How are our prejudgments effecting our analysis of Augustine and later authors?– How has reading the texts changed or reinforced those pre-judgments?– What is significance of these works (Augustine and his interpreters) for us?

Augustine and His Readers

In IX and X Augustine directly addresses his readers in a very personal way– Note that this address forms the boundary

between Augustine’s former life and his current life

Who are the implied readers? What does he ask of his readers?

Augustine and Scripture in the Confessions

Augustine may be writing to ‘prove’ to his audience that he is no longer a Manichee– Not only was OT not Scripture, it was product of evil

god– Physical created by evil god

He also address those who hold OT as revealed truth, but have different interpretations. (XII.xv-xxxii)– What was Moses’ meaning?– Is this the correct (and only) interpretation

(significance)?

This Week’s Readings

Augustine addresses his readers, Confessions IX. xiii.37 (last paragraph) – X.v

Augustine, Confessions, XII.xiii-xxxii E.D. Hirsch, Validity in Interpretation, Appendix A. Objective

Interpretation, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967, pp 209-44. (Optional)

Hans Robert Jauss, Toward an Aesthetic of Reception, Trans. Timothy Bahti, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1982. pp 3-45. (Optional)

Write 1-2 pg paper: How does Augustine address some of the issues of authorial intent and reader reception?