Bede and the final analysis - Part I

FRIEDRICH, Caspar David. Drifting Clouds.
c. 1820. Oil on canvas. Kunsthalle, Hamburg.

Professor Schlect comments on Bede's narrative style: "Most of Bede’s writings are commentaries on the Bible, many of which still survive today. We in our day are fascinated with his historical writing and easily forget that he saw himself primarily as a commen- tator on Scripture. In an important respect Bede thought of his Ecclesiastical History as a commentary on Scripture, for in it he narrated how the apostolic message spread after the age of the apostles—a sort of extension of the book of Acts. Therefore we should not be surprised when Bede describes people and events using biblical imagery. For example, when the evangelist Germanus sails the channel from Gaul (the ancient name for France), bringing sound teaching to England, we find him asleep in the ship tossed by stormy seas. After the sailors gave up, Germanus was awakened. He prayed, and the waters calmed (1.17). The story echoes the biblical account of Jesus calming the waters, and Bede writes in a way that underscores the similarities between these events, thereby reminding us that Christ continues to work in His people just as He did when He dwelt among us. Similarly, when Bede writes about King Oswald of Northumbria, he wants to remind us of King David. Thus, by identifying biblical patterns in post-biblical events, Bede’s history is a sort of commentary on Scripture. As a scholar who spent most of his life in a monastery, where the Scriptures were routinely read and chanted several times a day, Bede’s historical outlook was shaped by events recorded in the Bible."

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Bede Exam - Part I
3. Binder Check
4. Review HW:
1. Be perfect. (Matt. 5:48)

Bede: The Final Analysis

Jacob Philip Hackert. Italian Landscape.
1778. Oil on canvas. Private collection.

Professor Schect explains some background on The Ecclesiastical History of the English People: "Bede devotes much attention to Augustine and also to the visionary who sent Augustine to England, Pope Gregory the Great. Don’t be misled by the title “pope,” for in Gregory’s and Bede’s day that title did not carry the meaning that it has with us today. In fact, today’s notion of “pope” only began to emerge 500 years after Gregory. In Gregory’s day, scores of bishops all over Europe were called “pope” (Latin papa, which simply means “father”), and the bishop of Rome was one bishop among many. Pope Gregory did not see himself as supreme over the other bishops or “popes,” and he welcomed encouragement, correction and admonition from bishops in other cities. He condemned the idea that one bishop wielded authority over the whole church and stressed this point in several letters (Bede does not record these letters, but they are preserved elsewhere). Gregory even claimed that anyone who presumed to have such a lofty status in the church, or who calls himself a “universal” or “ecumenical” priest, is an antichrist. Why, then, did missionaries to England, such as Augustine, hold the popes of Rome in such high regard? Largely because Rome happened to be the place from where these missionaries were sent. When a missionary goes far off into the hinterlands, it’s only natural that he will seek the advice and counsel of the church which sent him out. This is a key reason why it was so natural for the English missionaries to submit themselves to the bishops of Rome the way they did. Of course, widespread respect for the great city of Rome also had something to do with the influence of that city’s bishop: the bishop of Rome was no ordinary bishop, because Rome was no ordinary place."
Agenda: 

1.  Pray
2. Finish Lecture on Book 4
3. Notes on Caedmon's Hymn
4. Lecture on Book 5 and Lindisfarne
5. Review HW:
1. Study notes on Bede for the exam on Friday (10/11). That includes Reading Journals!
2. Be perfect. (Matt. 5:48)

Bede, Books 1-5 Review and Study Guide

WITTEL, Caspar Andriaans van. St Peter's in Rome.
1711. Oil on canvas. Private collection.

Prof. Schlect notes, "Bede knew that kingdoms come and go, so he focused his attention on an institution that is truly lasting: the church. While he mentions many kings, his real heroes are churchmen. When he does describe kings, he is interested not so much in their political maneuvers as he is in how they affect the church. He also mentions war from time to time, but gives far more attention to the church’s warfare against heresy, schism, false worship and apostasy."
Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Lecture on Book 4
1. Notes (10/9): Book 4
3. Review Bede Study Guide
4. Review HW:
1. Study notes on Bede. That includes reading journals.
2. Be perfect. (Matt. 5:48)

Ecclesiastical History, Books 2-3: Part II

WEYDEN. St Columba Altarpiece (detail)
c. 1455. Oil on oak panel
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Consider St. Columba in this image of the stable and of Christ's birth. Here he is shown worshiping the Lord, though this is not historical. Nor does it need to be.

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Finish Lecture on Books 2-3
1. Students take notes.
3. Read Bede silently
4. Reading Check Quiz: Book 4
5. Review HW:
1. Finish reading book 4 by tomorrow (10/8)
2. Study notes on Bede
3. Be perfect. (Matt. 5:48)

Ecclesiastical History, Books 2-3: Part I

WEYDEN. St Columba Altarpiece (detail)
c. 1455. Oil on oak panel
Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

Welcome. Hope your weekend was good, that you possibly found leisure in your sabbath and sabbath in your leisure. Today and the next few days we will be discussing the last key sections of Bede's Ecclesiastical History. Pay attention. There is an exam at the end of the week. Next week we are transitioning into Beowulf.

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Finish Reading Check Quiz on Book III: 10 minutes
1. Who is king Oswald? What deeds does he perform?
2. Who is Brother Aidan?
3. Who is Columba?
4. Which king of the East Angles becomes a monk? How does he die?
5. What was the basic problem at the Synod of Whitby?
3. Announcements: 
1. On reading for this course and how we shall now read
2. On this week and exams
3. On the next week
4. Lecture on books 2-3 of Bede.
1. Notes (10/7): books 2-3
5. Review HW:
1. Finish reading book 4 by tomorrow (10/8)
2. Study notes on Bede
3. Be perfect. (Matt. 5:48)
   

Book II of Bede: Church Polity

Mount Grace Priory.

One of the wonderful things that Bede communicates, Prof. Schlect explains how our modern, divided churches today could quite a bit from the Ecclesiastical History, for it demonstrates how two churches with different customs can work out their differences together in caritas. 

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Read Bede silently. 
3. Correct reading quizzes for Book II.
4. Reading Check Quiz Book III.
5. Lecture and discuss
6. Review HW:
1. Read Book IV of Bede (10/7). 
2. Be perfect.

Bede and Culture: How to build a Christian society and culture.

Whitby Abbey.

Much of Bede's history is exciting. Far from a boring historical document, Prof. Schlect reminds us, "Bede tells the story of the expansion of the gospel among the English. This expansion moves forward over time, but (like real history) is full of potholes, hills and obstacles. At some points it seems that paganism will push the gospel back into Ireland and back to mainland Europe, but in times of great need God raises up fearless men and women, and Christ’s kingdom expands."

Agenda:

1. Pray
2. Finish Lecture on Book I: 
1. In Chapter 30, Bede records a letter from Pope Gregory advising Augustine of Canterbury how to build a Christian culture. The philosophy that supports Gregory's response comes from the Biblical idea of "spoiling the Egyptians," which the Fathers of the Church have formulated well and from which we can learn much to RE-build our Christian culture. 
3. Read Bede silently. 
4. Review HW:
1. Read Book IV of Bede (10/7). 
2. Be perfect.