Winning the Intracommunal Dialogues: Zacharias Scholasticus' Life of Severus
Elements of Zacharias Scholasticus' Life of Severus are often used selectively to document pagan-Christian religious interactions in late antiquity, but the text itself is poorly understood. This is particularly problematic for a thirty-page section of the biography in which Severus goes unment...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2005
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| In: |
Journal of early Christian studies
Year: 2005, Volume: 13, Issue: 4, Pages: 437-464 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Elements of Zacharias Scholasticus' Life of Severus are often used selectively to document pagan-Christian religious interactions in late antiquity, but the text itself is poorly understood. This is particularly problematic for a thirty-page section of the biography in which Severus goes unmentioned and much detail is given about the conversion of a young pagan student named Paralius. Zacharias' habitual republication of earlier works suggests that this segment of the Life of Severus was originally published separately to perform a specific, protreptic function for Christian students of the 490s. When he reused this text in the Life of Severus, Zacharias placed this specific narrative in a broader context designed to respond to attacks on Severus. Nevertheless, modern historians of religion need to use the information contained in this section of the Life of Severus with a full awareness of its original, rather limited, polemic intent. |
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| ISSN: | 1086-3184 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of early Christian studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/earl.2006.0011 |