Description
CAMBRIDGE Reading Sin in the World The Hamartigenia of Prudentius and the Vocation of the Responsible Reader 2011 Edition by Anthony Dykes
Prudentius is one of the major Latin poets of antiquity. A Christian living and writing in Spain in the late fourth and early fifth centuries, he was thoroughly imbued with the whole tradition of Latin poetry. The Hamartigenia is a didactic poem exploring the origins of evil and how it operates in the world. It is full of echoes and reworkings of earlier poems by Lucretius, Virgil and others, but is also a serious contribution to this important theological issue which was much discussed in Church circles of the day. This is a major new study of the Hamartigenia in the context of Prudentius' work as a whole and is striking for being as seriously interested in its theological as in its literary contribution. Table of contents :- Introduction: 'Prudentius counts'; 1. The world projects human responsibility; 2. The vocation of a responsible reader: the Biblical strategy; 3. The vocation of the responsible reader: the genre strategy; Conclusion; Appendix A. A note on the title of the Hamartigenia; Appendix B. A brief note on the date and circulation of the Vulgate; Genesis.