Excellent4.8 out of 5On Trustpilot
  1. Christian Books/
  2. Christian Living

Conversion and Text: the Cases of Hippo, Herman-Judah and Constantine Tsatsos

by Karl F. Morrison

  • Paperback
  • 208 pages
  • Publisher: University of Virginia Press
  • 15.3 x 22.9 x 1.3 cm

£39.21

Free UK Delivery

Available - Usually dispatched within 5 days

Buying for a school or church? Upgrade to a FREE Eden Advance Account

Free delivery on orders over £10

Interpreting three conversion accounts, Morrison accents the categorical difference between the experience of conversion and written narratives about it. He explains why experience and text can only be related to each other in fictive ways. The accounts are sample cases taken from different periods in Western history. The earliest and most famous, by Augustine of Hippo is from north Africa under the late Roman Empire. The next was written by Herman-Judah, a Jew who lived in Cologne in the 12th century, in the shadow of crusading pogroms. It is the first known autobiographical account of a conversion after Augustine's "Confessions". The English translation in this book will make the text accessible to many readers for the first time. The latest account, by Constantine Tsatsos, president of the Hellenic Republic, is from 20th century Athens. Unlike the others, it is not autobiographical. By this and other contrasts, it highlights issues of criticism raised by the other two studies.In working out his critical case studies, Morrison raises such questions as whether one can assume that a conversion actually occurred because there is a text about it, and if so, whether one can accept the narrative as a historically accurate description of events. Taking the texts as imaginative renderings into words of experiences that could not be expressed, he examines what the authors suppressed as well as what they told, and their guiding motives. He presents the narratives as deliberate fabrications calculated to achieve specific objectives. "For all three writers", Morrison writes in his preface, "concealment was a condition of the experience and the narrative of conversion. Despite their extreme differences, the hermeneutic project of conversion remained thinkable for them all because of metaphor, defined by tradition with a repertory of meanings...As writers, they took for granted the difference between what was called conversion and a fictive tale about it". The companion volume "Understanding Conversion", outlines the critical framework for the method applied in "Conversion and Text".
Conversion and Text: the Cases of Hippo, Herman-Judah and Constantine Tsatsos and Tradition and Authority in the Western Church, 300-1140
Tradition and Authority in the Western Church, 300-1140Conversion and Text: the Cases of Hippo, Herman-Judah and Constantine Tsatsos

  • Author

    Karl F. Morrison

  • Book Format

    Paperback

  • Publisher

    University of Virginia Press

  • Published

    December 1992

  • Weight

    323g

  • Page Count

    208

  • Dimensions

    15.3 x 22.9 x 1.3 cm

  • ISBN

    9780813913933

  • ISBN-10

    0813913934

  • Eden Code

    1161333

Over 14,000 churches and schools have upgraded to an Advance Account and we‘d love to welcome you into this free program. We know that church volunteers and school teachers often use their own money, then have claim it back on on an expense form. We can take all of that hassle away by invoicing your church or school directly and delivering your order straight away.

Opening an account is quick and easy, with most accounts being approved and setup within a few hours of filling in the form below (on weekdays, not weekends). As soon as we‘ve approved the application we‘ll send you an email to let you know that its done.

Upgrade to a FREE Eden Advance Account
Write a review
      Ask a question