An Early Christian Anthropology/Theology of Death: Rhetorical Forms and the Therapy of Grief

This project will seek to examine a fourth-century corpus of nine funeral orations, composed by Gregory of Nazianzus and Ambrose of Milan. Moreover, stimulus from select works of Augustine of Hippo will help to further discern therapies of grief. Our analysis will follow two major trajectories: I. sin, human and divine grace; II. the body, the soul and the resurrection. To understand the broader anthropological and theological framework, we examine two sets of source material. (1) Key supporting texts of Gregory and Ambrose. (2) A selection of texts by Augustine of Hippo on grace, human mortality, death, and original sin. In this way, the project re-examines distinctly Christian attitudes toward death and human grief, asking how theological beliefs receive profound existential expression.

Keywords:Linguistic anthropology, Latin language, History of religions, churches and theol, Study of Christianity, Religion and society

Disciplines:Linguistic anthropology