The slow fall of Babel : languages and identities in late antique Christianity / Yuliya Minets.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Minets, Yuliya, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Language and languages--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Language and languages.

Classical literature--History and criticism.

Classical literature.

Christian literature, Early--History and criticism.

Christian literature, Early.

Group identity--Mediterranean Region--History--To 1500.

Group identity.

Christian civilization--Mediterranean Region--History--To 1500.

Christian civilization.

Other (Philosophy)--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Other (Philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 418 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2022.

Summary:

This is the story of the transformation of the ways in which the increasingly Christianized elites of the late antique Mediterranean experienced and conceptualized linguistic differences. The metaphor of Babel stands for the magnificent edifice of classical culture that was about to reach the sky, but remained self-sufficient and self-contained in its virtual monolingualism - the paradigm within which even Latin was occasionally considered just a dialect of Greek. The gradual erosion of this vision is the slow fall of Babel that took place in the hearts and minds of a good number of early Christian writers and intellectuals who represented various languages and literary traditions. This step-by-step process included the discovery and internalization of the existence of multiple other languages in the world, as well as subsequent attempts to incorporate their speakers meaningfully into the holistic and distinctly Christian picture of the universe.

Contents:

Introduction: Awakening to Linguistic Otherness

Meeting the Alloglottic Other: The Socio-Linguistic Landscape of the Ancient Linguistic Landscape of the Ancient Mediterranean and the Spread of Christianity

Languages and Identities in Greco-Roman and Jewish Antiquity

The Tower of Babel and Beyond: Primordial Linguist Situation, Original Language, and the Start of Linguistic Diversification

Speaking in Tongues in Christian Late Antiquity

Foreign Languages and the Discourse of Otherness

The Languages of Saints and Demons

Conclusion: What's in the Language?

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Dec 2021).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-108-98774-5

1-108-98349-9

1-108-98082-1

OCLC:

1263247835