Crossing Rivers, Confronting Crocodiles: Aquatic Space, Ambiguous Creatures, and Ascetic Life in Late Antiquity
The theme of this article is how aquatic space was produced, imagined, and experienced by ascetics and monastics in Christian Egypt. I apply a wilderness perspective to the Nile in order to see how the imagined space of the river shifted character, depending on how it was conceived and experienced....
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Peeters
2021
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| In: |
Ephemerides theologicae Lovanienses
Year: 2021, Volume: 97, Issue: 3, Pages: 411-426 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Nile
/ Water
/ Asceticism
/ Church
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| RelBib Classification: | AF Geography of religion KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity KBL Near East and North Africa NCA Ethics |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The theme of this article is how aquatic space was produced, imagined, and experienced by ascetics and monastics in Christian Egypt. I apply a wilderness perspective to the Nile in order to see how the imagined space of the river shifted character, depending on how it was conceived and experienced. The article, which discusses various types of aquatic space and their role in creating ascetic identity, distinguishes between several aspects of the River Nile: the life-giving river; the river seen through the ascetic gaze as a negative image of life in this world; the river as a wilderness embodied in crocodiles; and the river as a life-threatening watery wilderness, which envelops different types of geophysical aquatic spaces. A special focus is how wilderness is present and sometimes lies dormant in other types of space. |
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| ISSN: | 1783-1423 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Ephemerides theologicae Lovanienses
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2143/ETL.97.3.3289712 |