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A spirited retelling of the Gospel story in a Germanic setting, the ninth-century A.D. Old Saxon epic poem The Heliand is at last available in English in Ronald Murphy's graceful new translation. Representing the first full integration and poetic reworking of the Gospel story into Northern European warrior imagery and culture, the poem finds a place for many Old Northern religious concepts and images while remaining faithful to the orthodox Christian teaching of the Gospel of St. Mark. Accessible to students of medieval and comparative literature, Murphy's introduction and notes provide valuable insight and a cultural context for this unique masterpiece.
G. Ronald Murphy offers an insightful examination of the lasting significance of Yggdrasil in northern Europe, showing that the tree's image persisted not simply through its absorption into descriptions of Christ's crucifix, but through recognition by the newly converted Christians of the truth of their new religion in the images of their older faith.
Ronald Murphy traces five of the best known Grimms' Fairy Tales back to their sources in literature and oral culture and shows that the Grimms saw them as Christian fables - remnants of ancient faith expressed in poetry.
The fairy tales collected by the brothers Grimm are among the best known and most widely-read stories in western literature. In recent years commentators such as Bruno Bettelheim have, usually from a psychological perspective, pondered the underlying meaning of the stories, why children are so enthralled by them, and what effect they have on the the best-known tales (Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty) and shows that the Grimms saw them as Christian fables. Murphy examines the arguments of previous interpreters of the tales, and demonstrates how they missed the Grimms' intention. His own readings of the five so-called "magical" tales reveal them as the beautiful and inspiring "documents of faith" that the Grimms meant them to be. Offering an entirely new perspective on these often-analyzed tales, Murphy's book will appeal to those concerned with the moral and religious education of children, to students and scholars of folk literature and children's literature, and to the many general readers who are captivated by fairy tales and their meanings.
"In this rich and rewarding interview, Rev. Fr. G. Ronald Murphy, S.J. discusses the little-known early Christian epic, the Heliand. Composed for ninth-century Saxon tribes living along the North Sea coast of today's Germany, this poetic version of the life of Christ taken from the Gospels was recited in monasteries and mead-halls throughout Saxony. Uniquely in mission literature, Fr. Murphy describes the fascinating cultural bridges used by the Heliand to help northern Europeans move from their cherished and deep-rooted mythology to a living Christian faith. An unparalleled look at how medieval societies made that change while remaining true to themselves"--
This study is an interpretation and appreciation of the art of the Heliand, the 9th-century Saxon epic poem in which the Christian Gospel of the four evangelists is reexpressed in Germanic terms. Murphy examines in detail the ingenious and sensitive poetic analogies through which familiar texts - the Nativity, the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer, the Passion and Resurrection - are transformed into Germanic settings and concepts. The first book in English on the Heliand, this study offers a new socio-political explanation of the possible motives of the unknown Heliand author in undertaking this enormous and brilliantly realized poetic task.
Winner of the 2014 Mythopoeic Myth & Fantasy Studies Award At the heart of the mythology of the Anglo-Scandinavian-Germanic North is the evergreen Yggdrasil, the tree of life believed to hold up the skies and unite and separate three worlds: Asgard, high in the tree, where the gods dwelled in their great halls; Middlegard, where human beings lived; and the dark underground world of Hel, home to the monstrous goddess of death. With the advent of Christianity in the North around the year 1000, Yggdrasil was recast as the cross on which Christ sacrificed himself. G. Ronald Murphy offers an insightful examination of the lasting significance of Yggdrasil in northern Europe, showing that the tree'...
This study identifies the underlying patterns of persistent biblical allusion in the work of renowned playwright Bertolt Brecht. Rather than reducing Brecht's use of the Bible to the purely satirical, the author interprets the full dramatic function of Brecht's complex use of scripture. Using examples from plays written throughout the span of Brecht's career, Murphy shows how Brecht invokes the stories of Old Testament figures such as Job and Isaiah as well as the crucifixion accounts of the New Testament in order to build sympathetic characters and explore his more political themes.
This study takes five of the Grimm brothers' best-known tales and argues that the Grimms saw them as Christian fables. The author examines the arguments of previous interpreters of the tales, and demonstrates how they missed the Grimms' intention.
Presenting the story of 'Parzival' that was intended as an argument against continued efforts by Latin Christians to regain the Holy Land by force, the author reveals the secrets of the altar stone that inspired Wolfram's work in the diocesan museum of the German city of Bamberg.