God's presence through grace as the theme of Cynewulf's Christ II and the relationship of this theme to Christ I and Christ III

Abstract

Cynewulf's dependence on Gregory the Great's Ascension Day homily for the structure and much of the subject matter of Christ II has been acknowledged since 1853. After commenting in some detail on the gospel text for the day (Mark xvi. 14–20) Gregory devotes the final third of his homily to more general reflections – ‘ut aliquid de ipsa tantae solemnitatis consideratione dicamus’ – on the theme of the elevation of human nature in the Lord's ascension: ‘Ascendente vero Domino, est humanitas exaltata.’ Though Cynewulf takes his lead from these general reflections of Gregory at every point, a comparison of poem and homily shows that in doing so he substitutes his own theme of God's continuing presence with man since the ascension in his gifts of grace. This article concerns this thematic change and its implications for the relationship of Christ II to Christ I and Christ III.