Book and verse : a guide to Middle English biblical literature / James H. Morey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Morey, James H., 1961-

Series:

Illinois medieval studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English literature--Middle English, 1100-1500--History and criticism.

English literature.

Bible--Criticism, interpretation, etc--History--Middle Ages, 600-1500.

Bible.

History.

Christian literature, English (Middle)--History and criticism.

Christian literature, English (Middle).

Christianity and literature--England--History--To 1500.

Christianity and literature.

England.

Bible--In literature.

Literary form.

Physical Description:

xviii, 428 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Urbana : University of Illinois Press, [2000]

Summary:

Exploding the myth that the Bible was largely unknown to medieval lay folk, Book and Verse presents the first comprehensive catalog of Middle English biblical literature: a body of work that, because of its accessibility and familiarity, was the primary biblical resource of the English Middle Ages.

The medieval Bible, much like the Bible today, consists in practical terms not of a set of texts within a canon but of those stories that, because of a combination of liturgical significance and picturesque qualities, form a provisional "Bible" in the popular imagination. As James Morey explains in his introduction, although the Latin Bible was not accessible to the average English speaker, paraphrases -- systematic appropriation and refashioning of biblical texts -- served as a medium through which the Bible was promulgated in the vernacular. This explains why biblical allusions, models, and large-scale appropriations of biblical narrative pervade nearly every medieval genre.

Book and Verse is an indispensable guide to the variety and extent of biblical literature in England, exclusive of drama and the Wycliffite Bible, that appeared between the twelfth and the fifteenth centuries. Entries provide detailed information on how much of what parts of the Bible appear in Middle English and where this biblical material can be found. Comprehensive indexing by name, keyword, and biblical verse allows a researcher to find, for example, all the occurrences of the Flood Story or of the encounter between Elijah and the Widow of Sarephta.

Contents:

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

The medieval idea of the Bible

The official reception of biblical literature

The place of English in post-Conquest England

Genre, audience, and self-representation

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [355]-381) and indexes.

ISBN:

0252025075

OCLC:

41400658