Publication details
Radical practices and mechanisms of conversion.Reframing the experience of “conversio” in the Late Antique Latin West
| Title in English | Radical practices and mechanisms of conversion Reframing the experience of “conversio” in the Late Antique Latin West |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2021 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | “Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. (Joel 2:12-13, NIV) This passage from the book of Joel was very dear to Jerome (c. 340–420). He translated it using the term convertere (Convertimini ad me ex toto corde vestro, in ieiunio, et lacrymis, et planctu: scindite corda vestra, et non vestimenta vestra). For him, returning to or turning towards the Lord was an act of change and transformation of the spirit. At the same time, this inner transformation was mirrored by a set of specific practices that represented, as testified by Jerome and other Christian authors from the fourth to the sixth centuries, “visual” manifestations of this inner change. For example, wearing a saccus (sackcloth) clearly indicated one´s choice of a life dedicated to God. Similarly, practices such as fasting (ieiunium) indicated a spiritual change of an individual. This, sometimes, also led to extreme consequences, such as in the case of Blesilla, a young disciple of Jerome, who died prematurely, as it was rumored in Rome, from prolonged fasting recommended by her teacher. This paper, focused especially on the works of Jerome, will consider several cases studies as indicators of complex and profound religious experience. According to Late Antique Christian authors of the Latin West, they were, in fact, representative of a form of inner transformation named conversio. The paper will elucidate especially the elements that were indicating, according to Christian authors, a clear mental, social or physical transformation that led to one´s feeling of belonging to the Christian community. Key indicators of this change such as the physical appearance of the Christians, their daily practices and their clothing will be taken into consideration. The envisaged analysis will pursue/follow an approach stemming from religious studies and based largely on recent scholarship on religious conversion. The texts under consideration will be studied as unique sources encompassing the complex mechanisms of this spiritual change. Consequently, this paper will offer a broader religious analysis in comparison with the perspectives of philology, history and historiography. |