The Rhetoric of Exile in the Preaching and Teaching of the Anglo-Saxon Church: Glimpses of the Cultural Ideology in Old English Homilies

Authors

Yi-chin Huang, Western Michigan UniversityFollow

Abstract

Abstract.

This article explores how the early medieval vernacular homiletic discourse produced in Anglo-Saxon England strategically employs the rhetoric exile, a theme whose significance is also articulated widely in Old English poetry. As words denoting such similar ideas as exile, banishment, exclusion, casting/driving out, etc., recur significantly in the homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church, including the homilies of Ælfric, Wulfstan, and the Blickling and Vercelli Codices, I propose an analysis of the instances in which the rhetoric about exile is used in preaching and theology in order to reveal not only the Church authors/teachers’ ability and effort to translate Latin and to disseminate complex theological ideas in their vernacular tongue, but also certain aspects of the broader cultural ideology in the culture of Anglo-Saxon England.

Recommended Citation

Huang, Yi-chin (2014) "The Rhetoric of Exile in the Preaching and Teaching of the Anglo-Saxon Church: Glimpses of the Cultural Ideology in Old English Homilies," The Hilltop Review: Vol. 7: Iss. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/hilltopreview/vol7/iss1/4