Poetry, Bible and Theology from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages Millennium-Studien zu Kultur und Geschichte des ersten Jahrtausends n. Chr. Millennium Studies in the culture and history of the first millennium C.E. Herausgegeben von / Edited by Wolfram Brandes, Alexander Demandt, Peter von Möllendorff, Dennis Pausch, Rene Pfeilschifter, Karla Pollmann Volume 86 Poetry, Bible and Theology from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages Edited by Michele Cutino ISBN 978-3-11-068719-4 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-068722-4 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-068733-0 ISSN 1862-1139 Library of Congress Control Number: 2020932189 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available from the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Introduction ThisvolumecontainstheproceedingsoftheInternationalSymposium“Poetry,Bible and TheologyfromLate Antiquity tothe Middle Ages” organized on 25–27 January 2018 in Strasbourgby ERCAM, “Research Team on Ancient and Medieval Christian- ity”,belongingtoUR4377ofCatholicTheologyandReligiousSciencesofStrasbourg, in collaboration with several French institutions (IEA, “Institut d’Études Augustini- ennes“-LEM,“Laboratoired’étudessurlesmonothéismes“-UMR8584;ÉcoleNatio- nale des Chartres; THAT Association, “Texts for the History of Late Antiquity”; CARRA EA 3094- University of Strasbourg) and international Institutions (Facultad de Literatura Cristiana y Clásica“San Justino” (FLCC) of Madrid; Universidad Com- plutense de Madrid). This conference was attended by the greatest specialists in late ancient and medieval poetry, involving a total of 33 papers, divided into three full days. AllmethodologicalquestionsconcerningChristianpoetry–i.e.Christian,Greek andLatin,ancientandmedieval,poetictexts,inclassicalmetres–withbiblicaland theological content,were approached from a diachronic perspective which made it possible to evaluate the doctrinal significance and the role that these compositions play even in the development of Christian theological ideas and biblical exegesis. From a chronological point of view, we have taken into account the period from LateAntiquitytotheMiddleAges,withparticularattentiontotheadaptationofclas- sicalpoeticmodulestotherewritingoftheBibleinallitsformsbyGreekandLatin poetsofLateAntiquity,andtothenewformsofbiblicalpoetrypromotedintheWest, fromtheCarolingianRenaissancetothe12th-13thcenturies,whentheCharterslegiti- mizedtheuseofpoetryinthetheologicaldebate,andtothelaterpolemicsbetween scholastic theologians (such as Giovanni Dominici and Jean Gerson) and Christian “humanist” poets. Indeed, it can be noted that the use of poetic genres by Greek and Latin-speaking Christians begins much later (especially from the end of the 3rdcentury/beginningofthe4thcentury)thanthebirthofChristianliteraryproduc- tioninprose,whichaccompaniestheverybirthofthisreligion.This“delay”revealsa realdifficultyforChristianculture:thecreationofacodeadaptedtotheexpression of biblical contents,central in this religion,through the cultural tools of Greekand Latin literaryproduction inverse.Thisdifficultyis oftenreflected in declarations of radical incompatibility between the two areas of reflection of Sacred Scripture and poetry, which is the instrument of expression privileged by profane culture (just think of certain statements hostile to poetry by important authors, such as Jerome orAugustine,whowillhaveafollow-uptotheMiddleAges,asM.ZinkPoésieetcon- versionauMoyenÂge,Paris2003.hasclearlyshown).Ontheotherhand,poetryisat theoriginofattemptstointegratethestyleofbiblicalpoetictexts,psalms,andclas- sicalliteraryforms(thisisthepathfollowed,forexample,bythetypeofResponso- rial Psalm,which will not be very successful.The solution that ultimately prevails over the others gives rise, using a remarkable expression of Herzog, to the third https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110687224-001 VI cycle of poems of Western literature,which flanks the Homeric and Carolingian-Ar- thurian cycles: the cycle of biblical poetry in classical meters. This is a literary field of vital importance,which, after havingencountered prejudices from a certain classicisingperspective,especiallyfromthemiddleofthe20thcentury,hasbeenes- tablished in the panorama of critical studies because of its chronological cross-cut- ting. Indeed,the “canons” of biblical poetrydeveloped in Late Antiquity will dom- inate medieval schools and even those of the humanist era, finding also a favourable ground in the culture of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, to enter definitively into crisis with the cultural renewal of the Enlightenment. This has also been established thanks to the interaction that the field has promoted be- tween emergingcultures,biblical-Christian and Germanic, and Greek-Latin civiliza- tion in its expressive forms. The symposium highlighted the socio-cultural importance of this transposition of scriptural content into poetic forms: in fact, according to various modalities and purposes, and in relation to different recipients and reference environments, this transposition aims, first of all, at the “vulgarization” of the biblical interpreta- tion and theological speculation in favor of the rudes, i.e. people who are foreign to catechetical schools or to the ecclesiastical careers, but who belong to the cul- tured/educated elites of their time, through the expressive instrument privileged by them,that is,the production inverse.This is the reasonwhy Christian literature inverseisofgreatinterestinthein-depthevaluationevenofthephenomenonofthe Christianizationoftherulingclasses,especiallyfromthefourth/fifthcentury.Aliter- ary genre such as the ’epic’ or the ’biblical paraphrase’ clearly shows the value of this cultural operation: the transposition principally into hexameters of the books oftheOldTestament(mentiontheparaphrasesofGenesisbyCypriantheGaul,Clau- diusMariusVictoriusandAvitus)oroftheNewTestament(suchastheEvangeliorum libriofJuvencus,theCarmenPaschaleofSedulius,theParaphraseoftheJohn’sGos- pelofNonnosofPanopolisandtheHistoriaapostolorumofArator)isnotreducedto a simple rhetorical exercise or a literary reading. As M. Roberts (Biblical Epic and Rhetorical Paraphrase in Late Antiquity, Liverpool 1985) and D. Nodes (Doctrine and ExegesisinBiblicalLatinPoetry,Leeds1993)haveclearlyshown, fromdifferentper- spectives. J. Nodes, such transpositions into verse offer readers a re-reading of the biblical hypotext, an“update” of Scripture in relation to the requirements and ex- pectationsofthereferenceenvironment.So,thisproductionassociatesscripturalin- terpretationsanddoctrinalcommentarieswithparaphrasinginverse,sothatforthis genre,we can also speak of a true biblical exegesis inverse,which is often accom- panied by very precise theological objectives. The study of Christian biblical poetry, therefore, requires a global and organic scientific approach,that is, an approach not limited to examining the formal ques- tionsrelatedtothetranspositionintoscripturalcontent,butalsotoshowinghowpo- eticformand exegetical-theologicalcontent supporteach other.Onthe other hand, thereisaneedforreflectionontheverylegitimacyofcallingChristianpoetstruethe- ologians.This is an issue thatchallenges even our notion of theology.Indeed, from Introduction VII the essay Gloria. Pour une esthétique théologique (ed. 1962) by the theologian Hans UrsvonBalthasar,anewattemptwasmadetorecover,withinthetheology,theaes- theticdimensionoftheology,underlininghowsymbolicandmetaphoricallanguage canbeaveryeffectiveinstrumentoftheologicallanguage.Thisisanaspectthatme- dieval theologians were already very familiar with: thus, since Carolingian times, JeanScotErigène(PL122,146B-C)hasbroughtthetheologyofpoetry(theologia ve- luti quaedam poetria) closer together through this particular use of language for teaching purposes. By publishing these proceedings,we are convinced that the contributions they contain will make it possible to provide a good framework for these issues and to bring new clarification to them. Michele Cutino Contents Part I: The Greek-Latin Biblical Epic in Late Antiquity Michael Roberts Narrative and Exegesis in Sedulius’ Carmen paschale 3 Michele Cutino Fictions poétiques et vérités bibliques dans les réécritures vétéro et néotestamentaires en vers Questions méthodologiques 13 Nicole Hecquet-Noti L’auteur et son public Les différentes lectures de l’épopée biblique selon Avit de Vienne 27 Sylvie Labarre La réécriture des récits bibliques de guérison chez les poètes latins du IVe au VIe siècle 41 Luciana Furbetta Avit de Vienne et Dracontius en rapport ‘Chanter’ et ‘expliquer’ la Bible entre formation scolaire et création poétique 57 Bruno Bureau L’autorité apostolique à travers les discours de l’Historia Apostolica d’Arator 75 Franca Ela Consolino Severus (of Malaga?) and Narrative Construction The Healing of Bartimaeus (VIII.119–153) 89 Renaud Lestrade Usage des sources poétiques classiques et perspectives «théologiques» dans l’Heptateuchos de Cyprien le Gaulois (Ve s.) 105 Donato De Gianni Four Variations on the Theme “The Withered Fig Tree” (Mt 21.17–22; Mc 11.12–14. 20–25) in Juvencus, Sedulius, Avitus of Vienne and Severus of Malaga(?) 127