Periodic Reporting for period 3 - PASSIM (Patristic sermons in the Middle Ages. The dissemination, manipulation and interpretation of late-antique sermons in the medieval Latin West)
Período documentado: 2022-01-01 hasta 2023-06-30
The PASSIM project studies the medieval reception of the Latin sermons preached by the Early Church Fathers. The project is developing a digital network of manuscripts and pursues three lines of inquiry: the customising of standard liturgical collections, the impact of transmission on the popularity of patristic sermons, and pseudo-epigraphic sermons as revelatory of medieval perceptions of the Church Fathers. The value and innovation of the project is situated on two levels: content and methodology.
The late patristic period (c. 350-750AD) is considered a golden age of preaching. The corpus of patristic sermons is considered a valuable source for our insight into a formative period of Early Christianity. However, the sermons of Augustine, Gregory the Great and other patristic preachers had an impact that went far beyond their Late-Antique origin. Patristic sermon collections traveled the medieval world, not just as relics of early-Christian authorities, but as integral parts of medieval religious life. These sermons were transmitted throughout medieval Europe as collections, preserved in thousands of manuscripts. Nearly every manuscript contains a new combination of sermons, attesting to a continuous, widespread engagement with the authorities of the Early Church.
Medieval collections of patristic sermons offer unique insights into medieval attitudes toward authority, techniques of appropriation, Church organisation, monastic networks and knowledge exchange. The dynamic tradition of reorganising and rewriting the patristic heritage is largely overlooked by scholars of medieval religious practices, who concentrate on medieval preachers, and by scholars of Early Christianity, whose focus is the reconstruction of the patristic context.
The PASSIM project has two main objectives, one subject-related, the other a broader methodological goal. First, we aim to document, present, and interpret the medieval reception of Latin patristic sermons and give patristic sermons - both authentic and misattributed - their rightful place as part of the corpus of texts that tell us about medieval religious experiences and developments. Second, we want to contextualise medieval manuscripts as witnesses to the medieval interpretation, rather than seeing them as stepping stones toward the reconstruction of the patristic original. We will do this in a way that allows us to trace, visualise and interpret transmission patterns on a much larger scale than has been possible thus far.
The late patristic period (c. 350-750AD) is considered a golden age of preaching. The corpus of patristic sermons is considered a valuable source for our insight into a formative period of Early Christianity. However, the sermons of Augustine, Gregory the Great and other patristic preachers had an impact that went far beyond their Late-Antique origin. Patristic sermon collections traveled the medieval world, not just as relics of early-Christian authorities, but as integral parts of medieval religious life. These sermons were transmitted throughout medieval Europe as collections, preserved in thousands of manuscripts. Nearly every manuscript contains a new combination of sermons, attesting to a continuous, widespread engagement with the authorities of the Early Church.
Medieval collections of patristic sermons offer unique insights into medieval attitudes toward authority, techniques of appropriation, Church organisation, monastic networks and knowledge exchange. The dynamic tradition of reorganising and rewriting the patristic heritage is largely overlooked by scholars of medieval religious practices, who concentrate on medieval preachers, and by scholars of Early Christianity, whose focus is the reconstruction of the patristic context.
The PASSIM project has two main objectives, one subject-related, the other a broader methodological goal. First, we aim to document, present, and interpret the medieval reception of Latin patristic sermons and give patristic sermons - both authentic and misattributed - their rightful place as part of the corpus of texts that tell us about medieval religious experiences and developments. Second, we want to contextualise medieval manuscripts as witnesses to the medieval interpretation, rather than seeing them as stepping stones toward the reconstruction of the patristic original. We will do this in a way that allows us to trace, visualise and interpret transmission patterns on a much larger scale than has been possible thus far.
The project is at its mid-way point. We are now operating at full capacity – the final team member started work in March 2021 – with four academic team members and three support staff (one research assistant, two ICT developers). We have also attracted four volunteers. Our work thus far is situated in 4 areas:
1. International visibility and publicity
The continued sustainability and success of the PASSIM Research Tool depends partly on access to relevant data. Therefore, significant energy has been invested in presenting the project at international conferences and to potential partners. These efforts have been successful (cf. 3.).
2. Development of the PASSIM Research Tool
The central hub of the project is the PASSIM Research Tool, which consists of a web application that allows for the sophisticated querying of a database of medieval manuscripts that contain collections of patristic sermons. Developing the web application and its functionalities was the main scientific goal of the first phase of the project and it has been achieved to full satisfaction. All major elements of the web applications will be completed by the end of 2021. We plan to officially launch a beta-version of the research tool during a workshop we are organizing on Digital Manuscript Studies in October 2021.
3. Data import
As foreseen, achieving a clean, representative dataset is the most labor-intensive aspect of the project. We use manual data input for manuscripts that are immediately relevant to ongoing research. To achieve bulk import, we have identified key-repositories and initiated collaborations for data exchange. Two partnerships, which provide us with the majority of our relevant data, are underway. We expect to invest significant energy in data import and cleaning during the second half of the project, but already, several parts of the dataset are ready for use.
4. Research and output
Concurrently with the research tool, three subprojects examine the source material in detail and publish representative case studies. A key-publication in a highly relevant journal discusses the methodological challenges that PASSIM is addressing. Several other publications are in print, submitted, or nearly ready for submission. The PASSIM team has so far delivered eight papers at international conferences. We are organizing a workshop on Digital Manuscript Studies in October 2021, in which several leading scholars will participate.
1. International visibility and publicity
The continued sustainability and success of the PASSIM Research Tool depends partly on access to relevant data. Therefore, significant energy has been invested in presenting the project at international conferences and to potential partners. These efforts have been successful (cf. 3.).
2. Development of the PASSIM Research Tool
The central hub of the project is the PASSIM Research Tool, which consists of a web application that allows for the sophisticated querying of a database of medieval manuscripts that contain collections of patristic sermons. Developing the web application and its functionalities was the main scientific goal of the first phase of the project and it has been achieved to full satisfaction. All major elements of the web applications will be completed by the end of 2021. We plan to officially launch a beta-version of the research tool during a workshop we are organizing on Digital Manuscript Studies in October 2021.
3. Data import
As foreseen, achieving a clean, representative dataset is the most labor-intensive aspect of the project. We use manual data input for manuscripts that are immediately relevant to ongoing research. To achieve bulk import, we have identified key-repositories and initiated collaborations for data exchange. Two partnerships, which provide us with the majority of our relevant data, are underway. We expect to invest significant energy in data import and cleaning during the second half of the project, but already, several parts of the dataset are ready for use.
4. Research and output
Concurrently with the research tool, three subprojects examine the source material in detail and publish representative case studies. A key-publication in a highly relevant journal discusses the methodological challenges that PASSIM is addressing. Several other publications are in print, submitted, or nearly ready for submission. The PASSIM team has so far delivered eight papers at international conferences. We are organizing a workshop on Digital Manuscript Studies in October 2021, in which several leading scholars will participate.
PASSIM will go beyond the state of the art by bridging two disciplinary divides, between patristic and medieval sermon studies and between the methods of textual criticism and the requirements of reception studies. Developing an interdisciplinary methodology with a wide applicability in the study of intellectual history, this project will introduce patristic preaching as a vibrant strand in the tapestry of the medieval religious tradition.
Specifically, PASSIM expects to impact the field through the following innovations and results:
- Provide access to material that is difficult to find or investigate at the moment, in particular with regard to pseudo-epigraphical sermons, and present this material in a structured yet flexible way.
- Provide the opportunity to study sermon collections in their manuscript context, without the interference of the classification systems imposed on the tradition in the past. It will also produce several examples of such studies.
- Reevaluate the ‘canon’ of patristic sermons and sermon manuscripts from the perspective of medieval, rather than late-antique religious history, restoring thus an imbalance which has long permeated the field.
- Provide a longue-durée perspective on the development and use of patristic sermon collections, in particular liturgical collections, while giving attention to several understudied areas.
The PASSIM Research Tool presents promising opportunities for further use beyond the parameters of the project: the dataset can be expanded to include other types of manuscripts and the methodology, functionalities and structure underlying the web application are applicable far beyond the field of sermon studies and represent a significant step forward in the field of manuscript studies.
Specifically, PASSIM expects to impact the field through the following innovations and results:
- Provide access to material that is difficult to find or investigate at the moment, in particular with regard to pseudo-epigraphical sermons, and present this material in a structured yet flexible way.
- Provide the opportunity to study sermon collections in their manuscript context, without the interference of the classification systems imposed on the tradition in the past. It will also produce several examples of such studies.
- Reevaluate the ‘canon’ of patristic sermons and sermon manuscripts from the perspective of medieval, rather than late-antique religious history, restoring thus an imbalance which has long permeated the field.
- Provide a longue-durée perspective on the development and use of patristic sermon collections, in particular liturgical collections, while giving attention to several understudied areas.
The PASSIM Research Tool presents promising opportunities for further use beyond the parameters of the project: the dataset can be expanded to include other types of manuscripts and the methodology, functionalities and structure underlying the web application are applicable far beyond the field of sermon studies and represent a significant step forward in the field of manuscript studies.