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Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: August 14, 2020 at 12:50:54 PM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Environment]: Blan on Brooks, 'Restoring Creation: > The Natural World in the Anglo-Saxon Saints' Lives of Cuthbert and Guthlac' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Britton Elliott Brooks. Restoring Creation: The Natural World in the > Anglo-Saxon Saints' Lives of Cuthbert and Guthlac. Woodbridge D. S. > Brewer, 2019. 323 pp. $120.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-84384-530-0. > > Reviewed by Noah Blan (Lake Forest College) > Published on H-Environment (August, 2020) > Commissioned by Daniella McCahey > > Noah Blan on Britton Brooks, _Restoring Creation: The Natural World > in the Anglo-Saxon Saints' Lives of Cuthbert and Guthlac_ > > The underlying premise of Britton Elliott Brooks's _Restoring > Creation: The Natural World in the Anglo-Saxon Saints' Lives of > Cuthbert and Guthlac_ is that "theological and philosophical views" > defined "the relationship between humanity and the non-human world" > for those in England who read and circulated saints' lives (_vitae_) > (p. 3). On that basis, Brooks argues that some early English authors > developed a sense that Creation could be temporarily restored to its > uncorrupted state through the sanctity and actions of the holy men > who were the subjects of the texts, and that these figures became > "New Adam[s]," whose ability to redeem the postlapsarian world > prefigured the eventual role of a returned Christ (p. 14). Moreover, > as the hagiographical tradition for these saints developed, the > authors increasingly connected their subjects to specific locales > throughout England, linking the development of cults and important > pilgrimage sites with the hagiography of restoring Creation. > > _Restoring Creation _is organized around early _vitae _of saints > Cuthbert and Guthlac, because they were eremitic (not living in a > cloistered monastic community) holy men who had "direct and > transformative interaction with Creation" (p. 15). Brooks analyzes a > single _vita _per chapter, with the exception of the final chapter, > which looks at two interrelated texts. The introduction situates > claims about saints' abilities to restore Creation within late > antique and early medieval Latin Christian exegetical traditions on > Genesis, specifically those of Augustine of Hippo (d. 430 CE) and > Bede (d. 735 CE). Augustine's views on the Fall at first evinced a > sense that Creation itself had been perverted and cursed on account > of human sin (a view that Bede later subscribed to and disseminated), > which explains why snakes bite and some plants have thorns--they are > tangible consequences of original sin. But Augustine gradually > developed the notion that organisms always had possessed > characteristics that would be potentially harmful, but that after the > Fall humans' ontological relationship to the rest of Creation had > shifted. In either case, Brooks views the authors of the _vitae_ as > sharing certain views of Creation and the Fall, namely that the new > and potentially inimical relationship between humans and other > creatures was meant to urge people toward better conduct and > salvation, and that saints, through sanctity and obedience, sometimes > had the ability to undo the harm inflicted upon the world by Adam and > all subsequent sinners. > > Chapter 1 examines the anonymous _Vita Sancti Cuthberti_ (_VCA_), or > _Life of Saint Cuthbert_ (c. 698-705), suggesting that the text > should be considered not merely as the means through which Bede > discovered Cuthbert's story, but rather as evidence of the saint's > miracles "understood as functioning within a postlapsarian world > delineated by Augustinian/Bedan exegesis" (p. 19) In other words, it > underpinned the notion that Cuthbert developed the ability to > temporarily restore elements of Creation through his obedience. This > is evident in one of the most famous stories associated with the > saint, when he walks to the sea to pray and two sea creatures emerge > from the water to lick his feet before warming them with their fur > and breath. Brooks sees this as a momentary restoration of the > "divine order of the universe" first established under Adam's > stewardship of all living creatures (p. 28). > > Chapters 2 and 3 treat Bede's metrical _Vita Sancti Cuthberti_ > (_VCM_) and prose _Vita Sancti Cuthberti_ (_VCP_)--both written > during the early eighth century as paired texts that can be read > independently but are meant to build on and inform one another (p. > 69). The chapter argues that _VCM_ demands new attention because it > anticipated Bede's later reworking of Cuthbert into a "idealized > Gregorian monk-pastor" through an emphasis on the saint's monastic > obedience and fulfilling of the duties of his office (p. 67). In > other words, how Bede reworked the materials of Cuthbert's _vita _was > rooted in his exegetical interpretations of God's mastery over > Creation, which were imbued by the saint, who could temporarily > suspend the ontological effects of the Fall. Bede uses poetic > devices, innovative lexical constructions, and embellishments of > miracle stories to make explicit what was implicit in _VCA_: that > through obedience Creation will serve the holy man, a restoration > intended to encourage other Christians. Thus, in this version, > Cuthbert's sea creatures end up participating in rituals that clearly > demonstrate the path to sanctity is through obedient monastic > service. Bede goes further in _VCP_, not just presenting an already > holy saint whose presence temporarily initiates a prelapsarian > environment, but a saint who actively re-creates one through > deliberate pastoral action. Bede's reworking of materials from _VCA_ > and his own _VCM_ situate Cuthbert within a framework in which he > must "level up" to perform certain miracles, and miraculous abilities > only unlock after he demonstrates his monastic obedience and pastoral > skills. Bede did this through reordering chapters, adopting a > "plainer style," and emphasizing human (rather than spiritual) agency > in the miraculous stories (p. 129). > > Chapter 4 examines the mid-eighth-century _Vita Sancti Guthlaci > _(_VSG_), or _Life of St. Guthlac_, written by the East Anglian monk > Felix. Brooks argues that _VSG_ marks a shift in Anglo-Latin > hagiography, especially in its depiction of fens, typically > represented in Old English texts as "wildernesses." Instead, Felix > shows firsthand knowledge of wetlands and their perils. Brooks > proposes "enargeia," or a hyper-vivid depiction of the fenscapes, as > the key to unlocking Felix's technique of mapping his trek through > the fens onto Guthlac's spiritual progression (p. 174). The chapter > capably demonstrates how Felix relied on ancient models like Virgil > for structure and the third-century apocrypha _Apocalypse of Paul > _(_Visio Pauli_) in his depiction of hell, as well as on _VCA_, but > also how Felix fashioned them into a novel form. > > Chapter 5 develops a fascinating "landscape lexis" in which the > terminology used in the _Old English Prose Life of Guthlac_ (_OEPG_) > to depict the fenscape shares the vocabulary of contemporary > mid-tenth-century boundary clauses. This contextual and descriptive > terminology in charters would pull a reader along a path delineating > the territory stipulated in the agreement with hyper-specific > landmarks. In other words, the author of this text used "terms of > topographical precision" to make the fens come alive--Brooks's > "enargeia"--and this is the most important link to the earlier > _vita_. This focus diverges somewhat in the central episode of the > poem _Guthlac A_, which involves the saint's descent into hell at the > hands of demons who drag him through rough and boggy terrain. > Significantly, according to Brooks, Guthlac restores via his sanctity > the actual environment that had been transformed after the Fall > (Bedan view). > > This book is ideally suited for scholars of early medieval England > and especially experts in Old English literature and biblical > exegesis, though it offers imaginative case studies to a broader > audience that demonstrate what we might plausibly call "ecological > thinking" in the early Middle Ages. Although ecology and environment > are modern notions rooted in a secular scientific discourse that sees > nature and culture as fundamentally separate spheres, medieval > European Christians thought and wrote about the natural world in > terms framed by certain religious and cultural assumptions about > human beings and divine purpose. This is perhaps most evident in the > famous biblical command (Genesis 9:7) for humans to multiply and fill > the earth, which had been corrupted after humankind's first sin and > expulsion from the Garden of Eden. In _Restoring Creation, _these > religious discourses that shaped medieval ideas about humans and > environment are not impediments, but rather help situate the argument > within the terms and ideas that circulated in early England from c. > 700 to 1050 CE. > > Citation: Noah Blan. Review of Brooks, Britton Elliott, _Restoring > Creation: The Natural World in the Anglo-Saxon Saints' Lives of > Cuthbert and Guthlac_. H-Environment, H-Net Reviews. August, 2020. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54805 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#370): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/370 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/76192082/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES<br />#1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.<br />#2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.<br />#3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
