Proposal a) Old Testament female figures in military contexts and their Early Christian reception
In various Old Testament descriptions of war and violence women play an important and often ambivalent role. There is a wide range, from figures who acted astutely/prudently and salvifically such as Jael (Judges 4,5), Judith or Esther, to women motivated by power interests such as the Phoenician Isabel (1 and 2 Kings) or Athaliah (2 Kings 11; 2 Chron. 22), or passively as the object/victim of male warfare such as the nameless daughter of Jephthah (Judges 11-12). Women are also mentioned in wider military contexts, e.g. as women keening (Jer 9) or women intoning songs of victory like Miriam (Exod. 15), Deborah (Judges 5) or the Israeli women in David's train (1 Sam. 18). Based on selected figures or groups of women, this PhD project examines how, with which exegetical methods and in which context Early Christian authors refer to them.
Proposal b) War – a purely male world? The role of women in Early Christian discourse
Until the 20th century waging war was a male preserve, barred for women. “In fact, [war is] one of the most rigidly 'gendered' activities known to humankind”. Recently several studies investigating the connection between war and the battle of the sexes, women on the military periphery and the construction of a male sphere of war and female sphere of peace have appeared. An investigation from a Christian point of view is, however, a desideratum. In late antiquity the historian Orosius was convinced that the disappearance of warrior women was a strong argument for the superiority of Christianity against paganism. Other research topics beckon, too: what did Christian empresses make of the correlation men=military and women=peace? What value is accorded to fighting women und goddesses in Christianity?
Proposal c) The reinterpretation of liturgical chants in conflicts and hostile action (p.r.n. co-supervision by Prof. Dr. Ansgar Franz)
This phenomenon, which has not been investigated systematically to date, has been a feature of congregational singing from the very beginning. The hymns for the divine office written by Bishop Ambrosius of Milan seem to have encouraged the population of Milan in their resistance to the imperial army in the course of his intense conflict with the imperial dynasty. His opponents accused him of “bewitching the populace” with his hymns. The 11th century antiphon “Media vita in morte sumus” expresses the “memento mori”, meditation concerning one’s own death, in the service of compline; it was often used during hostile conflicts to wish enemies a premature death. The early Christian morning hymn “Te Deum laudamus” became first a hymn of thanksgiving after episcopal and papal elections and later a hymn of praise for secular rulers, sung after victorious battles; Handel's Te Deum after the battle of Dettingen is a well-known case. Dispersed examples in research literature will be compiled and investigated. The literary (internal) and historical (contextual) conditions of each reinterpretation will be evaluated – can we recognise consistent or similar patterns through the centuries? How are the reinterpretations achieved? Why are some congregational hymns used for martial purposes and why are others inappropriate? What role does the musical form play?