Translating Eve: Death and Female Identity in a Funerary Hymn Ascribed to Ephrem
The necrosima, a collection of 85 funerary madrāshê ascribed to Ephrem the Syrian, encompasses hymns in a variety of metres, commemorating Christians of all stations and backgrounds. Scholarly interest in the necrosima peaked in the nineteenth century; in the intervening decades, the hymns have retr...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2022
|
| In: |
The journal of theological studies
Year: 2022, Volume: 73, Issue: 1, Pages: 167-194 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
In funere matrisfamilias
/ Eve
/ Woman
/ Christianity
|
| IxTheo Classification: | HB Old Testament KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity NBE Anthropology |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The necrosima, a collection of 85 funerary madrāshê ascribed to Ephrem the Syrian, encompasses hymns in a variety of metres, commemorating Christians of all stations and backgrounds. Scholarly interest in the necrosima peaked in the nineteenth century; in the intervening decades, the hymns have retreated into relative obscurity, a fate precipitated in part by the recognition that few appear to be of genuinely Ephremic vintage. This article participates in an effort to revive interest both in the necrosima as a corpus, and in its individual hymnic constituents—including those of uncertain provenance. To this end, it focuses on one of its most striking examples, madrāshâ 31 (In funere matrisfamilias). The latter depicts a dialogue between a deceased wife and mother and her community, wherein the former presents herself as daughter, victim, and unwitting double of Eve. The article examines the motif of Eve’s legacy in the lives of ordinary Christian women, as depicted in madrāshâ 31, in three interlocking strata: of the necrosima; of roughly contemporaneous Syriac literature; and, finally, of the madrāshâ’s putative performative context. Each stratum elucidates intertextual connections and additional layers of meaning, resulting in a more satisfyingly ‘thick’ description of the madrāshâ and its narrative. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1477-4607 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The journal of theological studies
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jts/flac077 |