HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor
HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor HISTORIOGRAPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES - Julian Emperor
CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHY: FOUNDATION TO MATURITY 123Biblical exegesis notwithstanding, the fact that in his most agonizedmoment Jesus quotes a passage from Scripture does violateverisimilitude. The drama of his death is diminished, even if but fora moment. The recognition of the verse from the psalm moves attentionaway from the particular, the death of the Galilean Jesus, tothe general, a theology that promotes the saving mercy of God. Thehumanity of Christ’s death is compromised by his quotation. Thepsalm proclaims that God looks after those who are faithful to himand will vindicate the suffering of his servant. The actual biographicaldetail has been subordinated to a theological or, perhaps moreaccurately, moral historiography. If the quotation is recognized, asthe synoptic authors intended, the cerebration it insists on puts atrisk the personal historic drama of the crucifixion. This anguishedmoment is swallowed in a larger cosmic struggle. Personal history isconsumed by the structure of sacred history. This is effected throughthe theology of the Incarnation that insists the exemplary life is aninvitation to the indwelling of the divine. Philo suggests as much inhis Life of Moses. 22The saint—following the model of the cross—embodies a paradoxicallydualist nature, simultaneously human and divine. Christiansacred biography and history will ever after seek to root the particularin the general. Even when constructing the most apparentlyunique moments—moments as unique as Jesus’s cry—the gospelauthors and later hagiographers shared an understanding of humanpsychology, biography, and history that is trans-personal. From thisunderstanding they promoted a genre that sought to privilege theuniversal ethical lesson inherent in the individual behavior. Jesus’squotation from Psalm 22:1 is the foundation on which the entireedifice of the rhetoric of recursivity is built.At the moment of his death, Jesus’s cry to his father is a proclamationof his faith despite the horror of the cross; his crucifixionemphasizes the salvific power consequent on the imitation of God’swill. Jesus was the faithful servant and led his exemplary life followingthe prophecies of Scripture. His fearsome cry is the first applicationof recursivity in Christian biography. For most Jews of thefirst century, the psalms were King David’s personal reflections andwere, therefore, his biography. Jesus’s quotation of Psalm 22:1 is his22Colson (1935), 1:27–29.
124 THOMAS J. HEFFERNANidentification with his ancestor David. Why would Matthew andMark highlight such a correspondence? The question is not easilyanswered, since Jesus and David, although they share the roles ofkingship and are types of deliverers, make very different claims ontheir audiences. Certainly both synoptic authors wish to illustrate thecontinuity of Judaism to their audiences. The answer may lie in thegospel authors’ intent that David and Jesus’s shared responsibility todo God’s will, to imitate his commands for the redemption of hispeople, is a responsibility inseparable from pain and suffering. Jesus’squotation of Psalm 22:1 unites Christ with his heroic but tragic ancestorDavid. His utterance signifies the presence of a larger reality,one that bridges chasms of time and culture. The employment ofrecursive linguistic signs and the multivalent levels of recognition itstimulates, beginning in the gospels but employed throughout Christiansacred biography, is an authenticating principle that testifies to thepresence of God’s favor in an individual. It is used frequently in thelives of the martyrs, the earliest of Christian sacred biographies andthe first series of lives we shall consider.Religio Illicita: The Church of the Martyrs. . . to feed on human blood while the people cheer. (Petronius, Satyricon119.18.)The account of Stephen’s death is the first Christian biography afterthat of Christ and, although brief and lacking narrative complexity,it is the first Christian saint’s life. (Acts 6:8–8:1a). The book of Actsdepicts Stephen as the first martyr, a thaumaturge, one “full of graceand power, [who] did great wonders and signs among the people”(St°fanow d¢ plÆrhw xãritow ka‹ dunãmevw §po¤ei t°rata ka‹ shme›amegãla §n t“ la“; 6:8). His power comes from the abundance ofthe spirit in him. Stephen was very likely the leader of the hellenizersin the Jerusalem Christian community. He opposed theSanhedrin, which was prepared to tolerate the church led by James.Stephen’s life follows, although epitomized, Christ’s: he preachesagainst the rigidity of the law; he is believed to be a blasphemer;he is forcibly brought before the judicial tribunal and questioned bythe high priest; he preaches about the prophets and patriarchs; hecondemns the council; and he has a vision of Christ as the “TÚn
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- Page 99 and 100: 90 MICHEL SOTAs for institutional h
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CHRISTIAN BIOGRAPHY: FOUNDATION TO MATURITY 123Biblical exegesis notwithstanding, the fact that in his most agonizedmoment Jesus quotes a passage from Scripture does violateverisimilitude. The drama of his death is diminished, even if but fora moment. The recognition of the verse from the psalm moves attentionaway from the particular, the death of the Galilean Jesus, tothe general, a theology that promotes the saving mercy of God. Thehumanity of Christ’s death is compromised by his quotation. Thepsalm proclaims that God looks after those who are faithful to himand will vindicate the suffering of his servant. The actual biographicaldetail has been subordinated to a theological or, perhaps moreaccurately, moral historiography. If the quotation is recognized, asthe synoptic authors intended, the cerebration it insists on puts atrisk the personal historic drama of the crucifixion. This anguishedmoment is swallowed in a larger cosmic struggle. Personal history isconsumed by the structure of sacred history. This is effected throughthe theology of the Incarnation that insists the exemplary life is aninvitation to the indwelling of the divine. Philo suggests as much inhis Life of Moses. 22The saint—following the model of the cross—embodies a paradoxicallydualist nature, simultaneously human and divine. Christiansacred biography and history will ever after seek to root the particularin the general. Even when constructing the most apparentlyunique moments—moments as unique as Jesus’s cry—the gospelauthors and later hagiographers shared an understanding of humanpsychology, biography, and history that is trans-personal. From thisunderstanding they promoted a genre that sought to privilege theuniversal ethical lesson inherent in the individual behavior. Jesus’squotation from Psalm 22:1 is the foundation on which the entireedifice of the rhetoric of recursivity is built.At the moment of his death, Jesus’s cry to his father is a proclamationof his faith despite the horror of the cross; his crucifixionemphasizes the salvific power consequent on the imitation of God’swill. Jesus was the faithful servant and led his exemplary life followingthe prophecies of Scripture. His fearsome cry is the first applicationof recursivity in Christian biography. For most Jews of thefirst century, the psalms were King David’s personal reflections andwere, therefore, his biography. Jesus’s quotation of Psalm 22:1 is his22Colson (1935), 1:27–29.
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