Conclusions

The model of craft and the craft workshop illuminates Christian authors’ literary activity, in particular their use of ekphrasis and prosōpopoeia. Their use of these techniques shows they emulate a literary craft tradition but adapt and experiment within it. They use these techniques to provoke an active response from their audience. These texts are intended to be useful as well as beautiful. They are creating a truly rhetorical and persuasive art in some ways similar to that set out in Plato’s Republic: grounded on knowledge, learning by experience and aimed at a good end. However, their conception of the good is defined in terms of Christian doctrine and they emphasize the importance of the fact that their craft is productive: it generates texts. Finally, this craft of words puts a great deal of weight on human experience: this is due to the importance of the doctrines of the incarnation and creation.

The Workshop

The first part of this chapter shows how Gregory of Nyssa construes his relationships with his teachers in textual terms: the things he writes are the proof both that he is a good student of his teacher, and that he is ready to graduate from their instruction. This same model is also found in his interpretation of the bride in the Song of Songs, who is depicted as a teacher (didaskalos) and a figure of Paul and the apostles. This suggests that one should see authors in a network, and as concerned with the production of things—namely texts. The second part of the chapter extends this to argue that one can see, for example, the Cappadocians, as functioning as a literary workshop. The ancient concept of workshop (ergasterion) is examined alongside the Cappadocians’ own use of the term, literally and figuratively.

‘This is the Word of the Lord’

This chapter examines cases where authors use prosōpopoeia to puts words in the mouth of Christ—either revoicing speeches which are found in the gospels, or inventing completely new ones. It first studies various interpretations of the Sermon of the Mount which read it rhetorically, commenting on the setting, on the effect of Christ’s words (pathos and persuasion), and the way his words reveal his character (ethos and integrity). Next, it examines speeches invented for Christ in hagiographies, where he takes on the character of the president of the games, preparing martyrs for and standing by them in their ‘victory’—that is, their deaths in the arena. Prosōpopoeia can complement our usual sources of Christology: the use of prosōpopoeia as invented speech appropriate to a character one can draw conclusions about how certain authors viewed Christ. It also raises questions about how appropriate it was for an author to imitate Christ.

Ascetic Landscapes and Aesthetic Landscapes

Basil and Gregory of Nazianzus use ekphrasis to produce rival interpretations of the same place. An examination of their use of ekphrasis shows that it is not an entertaining frame for or distraction from their argument, but rather the means by which their argument is conducted. This chapter uses Robert Macfarlane’s theories about language about place—that language shapes human experience of landscape and is shaped by it; that one must attend to the precision of descriptions of landscape (a key feature of ekphrasis). Ekphrasis is shown in these letters to evoke mood and character. It is also the means by which the two men argue: Basil tries to reveal a place which is both beautiful and appropriate for his ascetic project; Gregory tries to show that Basil’s language fails to engage practically with the actual place and that therefore Basil’s project will not work.

Ekphrasis and Decision

This chapter shows how the technique of ekphrasis is used to provoke active responses in the audience: discernment, judgment, and decision. It begins with a series of passages from Plato’s Republic, in which the author invites his audience to gaze on corpses with a series of characters: Leontius, Gyges’ ancestor, and Er. By describing these encounters in highly visual language, Plato invites the audience to share the characters’ initial reactions (disgust, horror, amazement) and then their moment of krisis—judgment or discernment. I then show how the Cappadocians invite their audience to gaze with them on the dead bodies of saints and martyrs and the nearly-dead bodies of the starving. Again the motive is to provoke the audience to a moment of discernment, judgment, or decision.

Ekphrasis

This chapter examines the literary technique of ekphrasis, defining it in terms of its intended effect on the audience: the vivid representation of an image to the mind’s eye, so as to evoke an emotional or other response. Ekphrasis makes an object appear present to an audience; it can be rich in detail or deftly brief. Both modes engage the audience in the imaginative recreation of the object, person or scene in their mind. This chapter also examines other aspects of crafting a text using ekphrasis: order, variety, and reading objects as texts. It argues that ekphrasis prompts questions about the thing described: Who is the maker? Who is the observer? And why is it absent?

Introduction

Christian authors, like their classical forbears, compare writing to painting. This chapter explores the implications of this analogy, especially relating to the concept of mimēsis—representation, emulation, or imitation. It then examines the literary techniques of ekphrasis and prosōpopoeia: they both involve the representation of reality, through an appeal to the audience’s visual or aural imagination. In using these techniques authors also emulate various literary models. Christians appealed to concepts of God as craftsman and Christ as artist of the human soul. Recent re-evaluations of mimēsis are also examined in relation to the concepts of the ‘Second Sophistic’, ‘Atticism’, and ‘Asianism’. Finally, this chapter examines the ancient concept of technē (art, craft, skill), defining it in terms of knowledge, a good end and learning by example. Fourth-century authors saw verbal composition as a craft, defined in these terms.

Talking Bodies

This chapter engages with research which suggests that Christian sermons on the poor objectify them. It shows, first, that Christian authors did make the connection between eloquence and fine words. By examining the use of the techniques of ekphrasis and prosopopoeia to describe poor people, it shows that they were often described as silent/incoherent and with disordered bodies. However, these techniques also show poor people as communicating with their bodies: they supplicate, appear as witnesses, or as a tragic chorus. They thus are depicted as having a limited agency, to which the audience is bidden to respond. The use of plot, character, and shifting perspectives on poor people also reinforces this sense of them as characters on stage. Christians were however aware of the dangers of presenting poor people as performers: instead of provoking a compassionate reaction, might it create a moral distance between audience and the poor?

Women’s Voices?

This chapter suggests that Christian public speakers (like other trained rhetors) saw a certain risky theatricality around using prosōpopoeia, especially for women. By comparing works on similar themes, one can see how Christians experiment with and adapt prosōpopoeia to various ends, and also how they mitigate its potentially inappropriateness in various ways: women ‘become male’ when they speak; authors stress the effect of their words, rather than reporting them; authors state what women did not say, rather than what they did (counterfactual prosōpopoeia). This chapter studies homilies on the so-called Maccabean martyrs, the forty martyrs of Sebaste, and some examples of philosophical women speaking in private.

Role-playing

Prosōpopoeia is direct speech in character, inserted into a narrative or argument. This chapter examines prosōpopoeia in its rhetorical and literary contexts: it represents words which are appropriate to a character but hypothetical (what she would have said if). It evokes emotion in an audience but is often viewed as theatrical and therefore risky speech. Particular anxiety focused on the idea of the orator speaking the words of someone whose nature clashed with that of the ideal orator (male, educated, authoritative). This chapter therefore sketches out ancient attitudes to public speech by women or those of low status, attending also to their portrayal in literature or on the stage. The chapter concludes with some reflections on the performing body in ancient culture: it is not just the words, but the body which utters them which convey authority and effect persuasion.