Material Information
- Title:
- Violent Conversions on Minorca: Examining Severus’ Epistula
- Physical Description:
- Book
- Language:
- English
- Creator:
- Blair, Sophia
- Publisher:
- New College of Florida
- Place of Publication:
- Sarasota, Fla.
- Publication Date:
- 2014
Thesis/Dissertation Information
- Degree:
- Bachelor's ( B.A.)
- Degree Grantor:
- New College of Florida
- Degree Divisions:
- Humanities
- Area of Concentration:
- Religion, Art
Subjects
- Genre:
- bibliography ( marcgt )
theses ( marcgt )
government publication (state, provincial, territorial, dependent) ( marcgt )
born-digital ( sobekcm )
Electronic Thesis or Dissertation
Notes
- Abstract:
- Up until this point, the Epistula Severi, a fifth century Latin text authored by
Severus, bishop to Minorca, has undergone little scrutiny. Scott Bradbury’s
translation of the text to English in 1996 reveals a historical yet constructed text that
narrates the supposedly consensual conversions of 540 Jews following a series of
miraculous events. I seek to explore and unpack both the conversions themselves and
the construction of Severus’ account first by examining the miracles and drawing
connections between them and similar biblical events in order to establish the
dominant rhetoric of the letter. I then examine the conversions themselves and
attempt to determine whether forceful conversion and hostile relations between
Christians and Jews were commonplace at the time through cross-referencing other
historical accounts and texts like the Roman law codes. Finally I examine local sociopolitical
factors on Minorca at the time that Severus wrote the letter in an attempt to
discern potential factors that could have influenced both the conversions themselves,
and the manner in which Severus chose to portray them, such as the threat to that part
of the Empire by the Visigoths. These investigations shed light on a document that
came to exist through the extraordinary confluence and pressure of many motivations
and factors, not the least of which was the deterioration of Jewish-Christian relations
in the fifth century C.E.
- Statement of Responsibility:
- by Sophia Blair
- Thesis:
- Thesis (B.A.) -- New College of Florida, 2014
- General Note:
- RESTRICTED TO NCF STUDENTS, STAFF, FACULTY, AND ON-CAMPUS USE
- Bibliography:
- Includes bibliographical references.
- General Note:
- This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida Libraries, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.
- General Note:
- Faculty Sponsor: Marks, Susan
Record Information
- Source Institution:
- New College of Florida
- Holding Location:
- New College of Florida
- Rights Management:
- Applicable rights reserved.
- Resource Identifier:
- Classification:
- S.T. 2014 B53
- System ID:
- AA00024718:00001
|
