Divinity Refracted: Extended Agency and the Cult of Symeon Stylites the ElderSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference PortalThe National Endowment for the HumanitiesThe International Balzan Prize FoundationDavid A. Michelsoncbsc_adminRecord added to Zotero bycbsc_adminSyriaca.org: The Syriac Reference Portalhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/GP2P24Q5/tei
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CREATED: This bibl record was autogenerated from a Zotero record.HeatherHunter-CrawleyDivinity Refracted: Extended Agency and the Cult of Symeon Stylites the Elderhttp://syriaca.org/cbss/GP2P24Q5https://www.zotero.org/groups/a_comprehensive_bibliography_on_syriac_studies/items/GP2P24Q5https://www.zotero.org/groups/4861694/items/GP2P24Q5ValentinoGaspariniMaikPatzeltRubinaRajaAnna-KatharinaRiegerJörgRüpkeEmilianoUrciuoliLived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Approaching Religious Transformations from Archaeology, History and ClassicsBerlinWalter de Gruyter2020261-286In this paper, I suggest that the
material evidence for the Late- Antique Syrian cult of Symeon Stylites the Elder
demonstrates a pre-Cartesian understanding of extended personhood and agency, in
contrast to a modern, dualist model of the bounded body. The saint’s
iconography, souvenir tokens, and pilgrimage site at Qal’at Sem’an are analyzed
in turn, in order to explore the ways in which they reflect a deep concern with
the performance of ascent in achieving sanctity, and an understanding of the
saint as continually present, living on in the distribution of his agency
through the material things of his life, particularly his column. It is
suggested that the cult was concerned with the animation of matter and the
revelation and refraction of divine presence and truth in the world, in a way
which questions definitions of living or lived in the study of ancient
religions.
Hunter-Crawley, Heather. “Divinity Refracted: Extended Agency and the Cult of Symeon Stylites the Elder.” In Lived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Approaching Religious Transformations from Archaeology, History and Classics, edited by Valentino Gasparini, Maik Patzelt, Rubina Raja, Anna-Katharina Rieger, Jörg Rüpke, and Emiliano Urciuoli, 261–86. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2020.
Heather Hunter-Crawley, Divinity Refracted: Extended Agency and the Cult of Symeon Stylites the Elder, in Lived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World: Approaching Religious Transformations from Archaeology, History and Classics, ed. Valentino Gasparini et al. (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2020), 261–86.Byzantine SyriaIV-VII CEQalat SimanSimeon the Stylitearchaeologychurchespilgrimagesaintsstylites