The Impact of Time and Place on Gregor Narekac'i's Theology, Spirituality and Poetics
Cowe, S. Peter · 1995
Sets Grigor Narekatsi in the material and political conditions of tenth-century Armenia: the restoration of the Armenian monarchy and an improving economy fuelled a boom in monastic construction, reported at length by the eyewitness historian Stepanos Asoghik. Aristocratic patronage of church building served as a display of power, piety and enduring fame, and Gagik Artsruni's programme of public works, culminating in the palace church at Aghtamar (915–921), proclaimed Vaspurakan's independence from Bagratid authority. Cowe uses this setting to read the theology, spirituality and poetics of Armenia's greatest mystical poet against the political and monastic culture that produced him.
Read the publication ↗Citation
Cowe, S. Peter 1995. The Impact of Time and Place on Gregor Narekac'i's Theology, Spirituality and Poetics. Le Muséon, Vol. 108, No. 1-2, pp. 85–102 (Peeters); DOI 10.2143/MUS.108.1.525841. https://doi.org/10.2143/MUS.108.1.525841
What this offers a reader
Narekatsi read against the world that made him, rather than as a timeless mystic.
Historicizing reading of the central figure of Armenian religious literature.
The Book of Lamentation sits in Armenian homes worldwide. This is the world it came out of.
The politics and money behind Armenia's greatest mystical poet.
Topics
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