Asceticism in Old English and Syriac Soul and Body Narratives

Katayoun Torabi

doi:10.3390/h9030100

Abstract

A great deal of scholarship on Old English soul-body poetry centers on whether or not the presence of dualist elements in the poems are unorthodox in their implication that the body, as a material object, is not only wicked but seems to possess more agency in the world than the soul. I argue that the Old English soul-body poetry is not heterodox or dualist, but is best understood, as Allen J. Frantzen suggests, within the “context of penitential practice.” The seemingly unorthodox elements are resolved when read against the backdrop of pre-Conquest English monastic reform culture, which was very much concerned with penance, asceticism, death, and judgment. Focusing especially on two anonymous 10th-century Old English poems, Soul and Body I in the Vercelli Book and Soul and Body II in the Exeter Book, I argue that that both body and soul bear equal responsibility in achieving salvation and that the work of salvation must be performed before death, a position that was reinforced in early English monastic literature that was inspired, at least in part, by Eastern ascetics such as fourth-century Syrian hymnologist and theologian, St. Ephraim.

Highlights

Scholarship on Old English soul and body narratives largely assumes a kind of dualism whereby the body is an inherently corrupt material object that has more agency than the soul
I argue against this interpretation by suggesting that there is no dualistic inversion of the body-soul hierarchy if one reads these narratives in the context of penitential Christian practice informed by Eastern asceticism
Building on scholarship that focuses on body-soul narratives in Western and Eastern medieval cultures, I examine two anonymous 10th-century Old English poems, Soul and Body I in the Vercelli Book and Soul and Body II in the Exeter Book, in order to demonstrate that both body and soul bear equal responsibility in achieving salvation, a position that was reinforced in pre-Conquest English monastic literature by Eastern theologians such as fourth-century Syrian hymnologist and theologian, St

Summary

Introduction

Scholarship on Old English soul and body narratives largely assumes a kind of dualism whereby the body is an inherently corrupt material object that has more agency than the soul. Purgatory, which was imagined as a place of transient post-mortem punishment and purification that prepared imperfect souls for heaven, allowed the salvation process to continue long after death. This concept originated in the Near East, took root in pre-Conquest. I argue that the body-soul poems’ implicit rejection of purgatory, despite its growing popularity in religious and popular culture in the Middle Ages, reflects Ephraim’s influence, but firmly situates this body of Old English literature in the context of penitential Christian literature that is heavily influenced by Eastern asceticism

Soul and Body Narratives in Medieval England

Ephraimic Influence in Pre-Conquest England

The Absence of Purgatory in Soul and Body Poetry