The spring,the seed and the tree: Gregory of Tours on the wonders of nature

In the preface to his liturgical calendar The reckoning of the course of the stars Bishop Gregory of Tours (538–594) — author also of Ten books of histories and Eight books of miracles as well as of a Commentary on the understanding of the Psalter (of which, however, only fragments are preserved) — declares God's “wonders” of the natural world to be superior to the seven ancient wonders of the world. The reason for this is that the latter, being works of men, are subject to decay and destruction, while the former, as miraculous works of God, are divinely sustained and renewed daily or annually, thereby becoming imperishable. An examination of the associative contexts in which two of these wonders — the sea (enlarged to include water in its various forms) and plant life — occur in the rest of Gregory's works reveals several essential themes of his thinking not only about nature, but also about God, man and society. Thought, for him, nature as a (divinely sustained) system of regularities does exist as a kind of backdrop, sudden unpredictable divine — and sometimes diabolic — action in and through phenomena occupies the center of the stage. Gregory tends to see this action in the shape of what he regards as pre-existing images or patterns of invisible spiritual truth, to which the visible, even material, structure of events must necessarily conform. He shows, too, how this action could reflect as well as meet various needs of the individual and of society as a whole. An association which recurs almost constantly in his treatment of divine action in these natural phenomena, which he sometimes describes as analogous to that in man, is precisely that with the cluster of closely related concepts of renewal, rebirth and creation ex nihilo. Together with what appears as an extreme, as it were ‘poetical’, sensitivity to sudden perceptions and intuitions, something like a longing for and surrender to what he describes as “astonished admiration” may have helped to make possible his recognition of that which he designated as divine creative power in the world of visible reality as well as in man's inner experience. His seeing this as an essential dynamic of the holy may mean that he felt it to be a fundamental need and concern not only of the individual personality but also, more obscurely, of the society in which he found himself.     

史诗与神话——纳吉论“荷马传统中的神话范例”

一、前言 《荷马诸问题》,美国德克萨斯大学1996年出版英文版第一版,著者是美国哈佛大学教授——古典学者和荷马史诗研究专家格雷戈里·纳吉。该著第四章“荷马传统中作为范例的神话”,专门讨论史诗传统与神话叙事之间的关系,可独立成篇。     

Agnes of Burgundy: an eleventh-century woman as monastic patron

As an eleventh-century monastic patron, Agnes of Burgundy was generous, thoughtful, and involved; she galvanized others into endowing monasteries and won the respect of the houses she supported. The association with grateful abbeys helped her and her husband, Geoffrey Martel, to establish the legitimacy of their rule. In this symbiosis, Agnes used the system for all it was worth, even eventually retiring as an old lady into one of her foundations, while religious life in west-central France flourished, aided by her support. Yet, although enormously wealthy and powerful, she did not act with full autonomy. Her life was shaped by the biological determinants of menarche and menopause; by involvement in familial strategies to advance her spouse's and children's careers; by limitations on her use of feudal power; and by gender roles that patterned behavior. She, and every other woman like her, functioned within a web of gender, class, and family constraints and expectations.     

《黄河十四走》

最近读到作家出版社出版的杨先让、杨阳的旧题新作《黄河十四走》,心情十分兴奋。事实上,十年前笔者在台湾出版的《汉声》杂志上已经拜读了连载文章《黄河十四走》。笔者对杨先生在民间艺术上的开     

The first two centuries of Saint Martin of Tours

This paper presents a critical examination of the evidence for the cult of St Martin in the fifth and sixth centuries. Through examination of the various manifestations of Martin's cult, it argues that the cult had different meanings and significance at different times and places, and that the commonly perceived popularity of Martin's cult was in fact an illusion created by the constant reinvention and promotion of various interpretations of Martin by interested parties, from aristocratic ascetics to politically active bishops.     

The Merovingian accounting documents of Tours: form and function

A little fewer than thirty Merovingian accounting documents which originated from the Abbey of St Martin of Tours, though fragmentary, provide for the historians of early medieval Europe an unexpected tool with which the latter could cast a new light over actual conditions in tribute collection and the management system for the fiscal administration of the abbey. The present article asks some basic questions about these accounting documents in the hope of casting further light on their form and function: which form did take the documents while they had been used for the collection of dues? At which stage of collecting procedure they served in the abbey as a tool for the keeping of records? When was each document prepared? In which historical context could be placed the birth of fiscal document of the abbey? All of these question are important for an understanding of the history of St Martin's of Tours and of the use of documents in general in the Merovingian era.     

The temptations of cult: Roman martyr piety in the age of Gregory the Great

Pope Gregory the Great (590–604) was arguably the most important Roman writer and civic leader of the early middle ages; the Roman martyrs were certainly the most important cult figures of the city. However modern scholarship on the relationship between Gregory and the Roman martyrs remains curiously underdeveloped, and has been principally devoted to comparison of the gesta martyrum with the stories of Italian holy men and women (in particular St Benedict) told by Gregory in his Dialogues; in the past generation the Dialogues have come to be understood as a polemic against the model of sanctity proposed by the Roman martyr narratives. This paper explores Gregory's role in the development of Roman martyr cult in the context of the immediate social world of Roman clerical politics of the sixth and seventh centuries. Gregory's authority as bishop of Rome was extremely precarious: the Roman clerical hierarchy with its well-developed protocols did not take kindly to the appearance of Gregory and his ascetic companions. In the conflict between Gregory and his followers, and their opponents, both sides used patronage of martyr cult to advance their cause. In spite of the political necessity of engaging in such 'competitive generosity', Gregory was also concerned to channel martyr devotion, urging contemplation on the moral achievements of the martyrs – which could be imitated in the present – as opposed to an aggressive and unrestrained piety focused on their death. Gregory's complex attitude to martyr cult needs to be differentiated from that which was developed over a century later, north of the Alps, by Carolingian readers and copyists of gesta martyrum and pilgrim guides, whose approach to the Roman martyrs was informed by Gregory's own posthumous reputation.     

关于旅游节庆市场化运作的思考

旅游节庆作为一种动态的化旅游吸引物,应该作为独立的旅游产品来经营。规范化、市场化、产业化是旅游节庆必由之路。笔认为以下问题是探索旅游节庆走向的关键：独一无二的城市特征是旅游节庆的灵魂;广泛的民众性是节庆赖以成功的魅力所在;活动内容的确定性和管理的严谨是旅游节庆成为“产品”基本条件;“成本与利润”理念的注入是节庆得以传承的基础。     

丝绸之路区域旅游合作空间开发模式选择

区域旅游开发是一项复杂的系统工程,其中最重要、最关键的环节是空间开发模式的选择。合理确定旅游地的空间开发模式,是区域旅游开发需要解决的核心问题,也是区域旅游开发最终要达到的重要目标。本文在众多学者研究的基础上提出了丝绸之路空间开发的开发模式、互补模式和发展趋势模式。     

The making of a minor saint in Drogo of Saint‐Winnoc's Historia translationis s. Lewinnae

In 1058, the Flemish abbey of Saint‐Winnoc stole St Lewinna's relics from a minster in southern England. The community worked to establish her cult in Flanders. Although scholars have focused on the material gain Saint‐Winnoc probably hoped the cult would bring, this article argues that the development of the abbey's communal identity figured more prominently in its motives. The community saw Lewinna primarily as a means to help bolster its bid for independence from its mother house.     

The Venerable Bede and Gregory the Great: exegetical connections, spiritual departures

This article revisits the familiar comparison between the thought and writings of Bede and Gregory the Great. Bede was keen to foreground his debt to Gregory and past assessments have illuminated aspects of it, but this investigation offers a more searching analysis of the interface between biblical exegesis and spiritual teaching, a subject that highlights Bede's frequent reliance on Gregory as well as his calculated departures from him. Accordingly, the article first examines the different ways Bede in his commentaries could deploy Gregory's writings as a source, then discusses the more pragmatic, less mystical thrust of Bede's thought that sets him apart from Gregory.