Category: Readings

Daniel, Life of St. Margaret, Theories

Identity and Looking Upon the Divine in Daniel and The Life of St Margaret

Group: Jonah, Spencer, Frances, and Jo The phenomenon of looking can be thought of as consisting of two composite parts: seeing and interpreting. Seeing, the visual experience of something happening before one’s own eyes, or gazing upon a representation such as a photograph or piece of visual art, forms the principal step of looking. However, it is often subservient to the act of interpreting. Seeing is merely the intake of…

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Crucifixion of Jesus
Life of St. Margaret, Readings, Theories

Power, Jesus, and Tony Stark

Today’s discussion inspired many thoughts about the allure of violence and why some people continue to actively witness violence while it feels disgusting and irrational to others. According to Sontag, she says that “Men make war. Men (most men) like war, for men there is ‘some glory, some necessity, some satisfaction in fighting’ that women (most women) do not feel or enjoy” (3). While it is unclear how true the…

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Daniel, Genesis, Life of St. Margaret, Questions, Readings

The Temporality of Witnessing

When the three youths are saved from the flames in the Old English verse-form of the Book of Daniel, Nebuchadnezzar can hardly believe his eyes. At the sight of this miracle, Nebuchadnezzar declares, “Now I truly see four people there – I do not deceive myself at all” (lines 412-413). At this moment of witnessing, Nebuchadnezzar appears to change his ways. He sees the youths’ bonds incinerated, their clothing intact,…

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Life of St. Margaret, Readings

Death, Where Is Your Victory? A Medieval Christian Perspective on Glory and Suffering in the Life of St. Margaret

The Old English Life of Saint Margaret ends, as the title might suggest, with the protagonist St. Margaret’s death. After Margaret is killed, angels “come over the body of the holy Margaret and bless it,” singing, “‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, glorious King of hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory.’” At first glance, this concluding moment may seem strange or confusing. Margaret, who has just slain a…

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Life of St. Margaret, Questions, Theories

Soul and Body in St. Margaret

The story of St. Margaret highlights many features of the Christian worldview, perhaps most notably the nature of ideal behavior. Saints are canonized in the Christian religion as role models- they are inherently aspirational figures. St. Margaret is portrayed as an ideal Christian figure in two ways: firstly, through her purity, translated as “virginity” or “chastity” in the text, and secondly, through her endurance in the face of extreme violence.…

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Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace
Daniel

Reciprocal Witnessing in Daniel

In The Poetics and Politics of Witnessing, Derrida argues that trust in a witness’ account is derived from the belief of those listening. Derrida explains, “Bearing witness appeals to the act of faith, and thus takes place in the space of pledged or sworn word” (Derrida, 75). Here, Derrida notes that the relationship between a witness and an audience is one of faith. To prove this faith an oath must…

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Genesis

Feminine Violence

In Genesis the violence associated with women is quite striking. Although I have studied the Bible in religious classes for many years throughout high school, this has been the first time I realized the violence that is commonly associated with women in the Bible and even how Eve, the first women is surrounded by brutality. Looking at Genesis, when the reader first encounters Eve, and Daniel Anlezark translates, “He drew…

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Life of St. Margaret

Is (St.) Margaret a Virgin?

Reading The Life of St Margaret is a trip. Throughout the story Margaret is tortured, kills a dragon, bludgeons a devil, causes an earthquake, and converses with holy doves before she is executed, and her severed head is carried to heaven as a reward for maintaining her virginity in the face of a prefect’s aggressive efforts to take it.  However, the most implausible thing to me when reading this was…

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Genesis, Readings, Theories

Forces of Translation II: Blood of Death

The story of Cain killing Abel is found three books earlier in the Vulgate Genesis: the Latin version, given on the right above, is significantly more succinct than the Old English, a fragment from which is given on the left.

The personified Earth drinking the blood of the first murder is only found in the Old English telling of the story, which leans into and elaborates on the act itself and the fallout experienced even before God arrives and calls Cain to account for his brother. Once we arrive at the interrogation point in the story, the words track more directly: in every iteration, Cain’s retort that he is not his brother’s keeper is preserved.

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Genesis, Readings

Forces of Translation I: Diluvian Description

This two-part post set will pull out moments in the Old English Genesis where I found translation questions particularly pertinent. First, I will compare some residual effects the most proximate language of translation left on the Modern English versions of the Old English and Vulgate descriptions of the Flood, respectively, how the two poems look at the horror of the destruction. In this moment, the two versions are mostly similar,…

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