Chrisitianizing harmonies : the transformation of sound in late antiquity
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- In the early fourth century CE, the Roman emperor Constantine embraced Christianity and initiated the Christianization of the Roman Empire. In this revolution, old institutions lost power, while new social, political, and religious forces emerged. This dissertation explores one major aspect of this revolution that has not appeared in scholarly narratives about the transformation of the Roman Empire in late antiquity: sound. It argues that the Christianization of pagan sound was a central feature of the Constantinian revolution. To convert the Empire to Christianity, Christians sought to transform the soundscape, or acoustic environment, from the realm of pagan gods into a vast cathedral resonating with harmonies for Christ. In other words, perceiving the non-Christian world as out of calibration like a poorly tuned instrument, Christians endeavored to retune the world from dissonant and demonic paganism into a Christian consonance that would govern the new Christian Empire. Taking many forms, these harmonizing efforts produced a multivocal soundscape that consisted of psalm singing, shouting, silencing demonic outbursts, and even belching. In sum, late antiquity hosted a polyphonous chorus of Christian voices all participating in the great harmonizing work of Jesus as they Christianized the soundscape of the world.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2023; ©2023 |
| Publication date | 2023; 2023 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Abbott, Philip J |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Penn, Michael Philip |
| Thesis advisor | Penn, Michael Philip |
| Thesis advisor | Elm, Susanna |
| Thesis advisor | Fonrobert, Charlotte Elisheva |
| Thesis advisor | Parker, Grant Richard, 1967- |
| Degree committee member | Elm, Susanna |
| Degree committee member | Fonrobert, Charlotte Elisheva |
| Degree committee member | Parker, Grant Richard, 1967- |
| Associated with | Stanford University, School of Humanities and Sciences |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Religious Studies |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Philip J. Abbott. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Religious Studies. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2023. |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/wx072wn1399 |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2023 by Philip Abbott
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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