Christian Missions in Europe in the Second Half of the First Millennium

Wilken's ch. 28 is called "Latin Christianity Spreads North." Here he covers Ireland, England, Germany, and some other spots. Early in the chapter Wilken mentions the Christianization of Lithuania (wikipedia), which didn't occur until almost the turn of the fifteenth century. I had no idea it was that late. 

Ireland: Palladius (wikipedia), Saint Patrick (wikipedia; Wilken pp. 269–70). Patrick wrote two surviving works: a Confessio and an Epistola (both here at the Royal Irish Academy). 

Springmount Bog Tablets (wikipedia; online CLA). Wilken (pp. 270–71) mentions these tablets discovered in an Irish bog in 1914 as "a fascinating artifact of how Latin was transmitted in the early Middle Ages." They contain Psalms 30–31 in Latin as a schoolboy exercise. 

Earlier Latin Manuscripts

Columba (521–597, wikipedia, Wilken p. 271), an Irish monk who evangelized in Scotland. Unmentioned by Wilken is the Cathach of St. Columba (wikipedia), the oldest surviving manuscript in Ireland, and the second oldest Latin Psalter in the world, traditionally attributed to Columba's scribal activity. Digital Images.

Columbanus (543–615, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 271–72), founder of monasteries among the Franks and Lombards. 

Bede (672/3–735, wikipedia), monk at Wearmouth-Jarrow in Northumbria (wikipedia). He wrote a whole bunch of stuff, but he is best remembered for his Ecclesiastical History of the English People. This is available in a Loeb edition. Wilken does not mention here the Codex Amiatinus, the oldest surviving complete Latin Bible (I think Wilken mentioned it in a previous chapter). The manuscript was produced at the same monastery where Bede was, and Bede described its production, along with two other sister pandects. 

Augustine of Canterbury (d. 604, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 273–76), archbishop of Canterbury from 597. His story is told in Bede's Ecclesiastical History. First landed in Britain on the Isle of Thanet (wikipedia), which is no longer an island. The king of Kent was Ethelbert (c. 550–616, wikipedia), a pagan who allowed the Christian missionaries to settle in the chief city of his realm, Canterbury. Soon enough Ethelbert converted. On what to do with the pagan temples in England, Pope Gregory the Great sent a well-known letter to Abbot Mellitus near the turn of the seventh century (available here). 

Synod of Whitby, 664 (wikipedia, Wilken p. 276), on the date of Easter. This also is reported by Bede. 

Boniface, apostle to the Germans (c. 675–754, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 276–78), born as Wynfrith in Wessex. "...he made his way to Rome, and in 719 Wynfrith received a formal commission from Pope Gregory II to evangelize the hethen and was named Boniface after an early Christian martyr" (Wilken p. 277). His life was told by Willibald of Mainz (e.g., here). Wilken tells the story about Boniface chopping down a sacred tree and using its wood for a church building, and about his death. The Gospel Book that he supposedly used to defend himself is the Ragyndrudis Codex (wikipedia). 

Wikimedia Commons

Western Christianity in the Sixth Century

Wlken's ch. 27 is on Latin Christianity in the sixth and early-seventh centuries. He discusses a series of major characters. 

Ulfilas (c. 311–383, wikipedia), a Goth and an Arian Christian, who developed the gothic alphabet and is traditionally credited with the translation of the Gothic Bible (wikipedia). The "apostle to the Goths" ensured that the Germanic tribes were Arians until the time of Clovis. 

Clovis I (c. 466–511, wikipedia), the first king to unite the Franks, and the first Frankish king to reject Arianism and embrace Nicene Christianity. His father was Childeric I (wikipedia), whose father was Merovech (wikipedia), after whom the dynasty is named Merovingian (wikipedia). 

Gregory of Tours (c. 538–594, wikipedia), the "father of French history," wrote the History of the Franks in ten books. (The wikipedia entry is very well-done, with a great bibliography.) The history is available in Latin at the Latin Library. A partial English translation is at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook. There is a complete translation by Lewis Thorpe, published by Penguin, but Wikipedia thinks that "contemporary historians" do not like Thorpe's introduction and notes. 

By the way, Gregory's Lives of the Fathers is available in English with facing Latin in a book by Giselle de Nie (reviewed at BMCR), together with his works on the miracles of the martyr Julian and of Saint Martin. His works The Gory of the Confessors and The Glory of the Martyrs are available in English translation by Raymond Van Dam. 

In the History, Gregory tells the story of Clovis' baptism into Catholic Christianity, retold by Wilken (pp. 259–60). It took place on Christmas Day, 508. 

Clovis, king of the Franks, stands at the beginning of a new epoch in the history of Christianity in the West. His conversion set in motion forces that would advance the establishment of Catholic Christianity among the Germanic peoples living north of the Alps. Other Germanic peoples would soon follow: the Burgundians in southern Germany abandoned Arianism in 516, the Visigoths in Spain in 589. A new direction was being set. On his death Clovis left behind a Christian kingdom whose bishops were in fellowship with Rome, and in the next century the alliance between Christian kings and the papacy would set the course of medieval history for centuries. (Wilken p. 260)

Benedict of Nursia (480–547, wikipedia; Wilken pp. 260–63). The Rule of Saint Benedict (wikipedia) at the Latin Library, and here is a translation. About 530, he founded his monastery on Monte Cassino. 

The pimary "work" of the community was to pray. The monastery was not established to engage in any other activity, as for example teaching the young or caring for the sick or needy. In Benedict's words, "Nothing is to take precedence over the work of God," by which he meant the regular hours of prayer. "On hearing the signal for an hour of the divine office," writes Benedict, "the monk will immediately set aside what he has in hand and go with utmost speed." At the same time the monks had to support themselves, so work became an integral part of their life, tending the garden, cooking and baking, practicing useful crafts such as shoemaking, caring for the buildings, and the like. Manual labor was held in high regard. Though later some monastic communities became centers of learning, Benedict was more interested in the increase of virtue than growth in learning. (Wilken p. 263)

Boethius (480–524, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 263–65), born in Rome, studied at Athens, the son of a consul to Theodoric, he also became consul to Theodoric in 510, though he was a Catholic and Theodoric was Arian. "What brought about his downfall, however, was an ill-considered attempt to defend a senatorial colleague [= Caecina Albinus, wikipedia] who had been charged with disloyalty to the king. Boethius was implicated in a widespread conspiracy and summarily tried, condemned to death, and imprisoned at Pavia, a town in northern Italy not too far from Milan. While awaiting death he wrote a treatise entitled the Consolation of Philosophy [wikipedia], one of the most beloved, influential, and widely read books of medieval times" (Wilken p. 264). There is a Loeb edition of Boethius. 

Cassiodorus (c. 485– c. 585, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 265). When he retired from public life, he established a monastery called Vivarium (wikipedia). Apparently there is a 2019 film with the same name (wikipedia), but it has nothing to do with Cassiodorus (I think). Wilken describes the great work of Cassiodorus, the Institutes of Divine and Human Letters, available in a 2004 translation, which is also online. 

Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 266). "The work that best represents his genius is known as Etymologies, a vast encyclopedia that attempted a summary of all branches of knowledge by drawing on the deep reservoir of classical writers" (Wilken p. 266). This work has a wikipedia page. The Latin text is available at the Latin Library. A 2006 translation is available online (pdf). 

Venantius Fortunatus (c. 530–609, wikipedia, Wilken pp. 266–), a poet who wrote two hymns still sung: Pange lingua (wikipedia) and Vexilla regis prodeunt (wikipedia; and a fuller version). Born in Italy, he died as bishop of Poitiers. Both hymns reflect on the crucifixion and specifically on the cross, even its wood. The Vexilla regis prodeunt was composed for the procession of the True Cross

"Something new is at work here that will shape Western piety for centuries. Reading Fortunatus's hymns, one understands why the crucifix became the most prominent object of devotion in Western Christianity and the ritual of kissing a wooden cross part of the Church's liturgy on Good Friday" (Wilken p. 268). 

What I'm Looking for in My Students' Research Papers

I'm looking for competence. I'm not looking for an original contribution to scholarship. I'm not looking for original anything. Keep it unoriginal. 

Most people want government officials to do the normal stuff competently. They're not looking for fresh ideas; they're looking for people who can be counted on to do normal things well. Secure the border. Prosecute criminals. Remove the trash. Don't give us surprises, just competence. 

Teachers are looking for the same thing when it comes to a student research paper. When you're in a PhD program, or you're a working scholar with an academic job, then by all means write what you think is an original contribution to our body of knowledge and submit that paper to a journal that will evaluate its significance. But as a first-year grad student, or as an undergrad, just do the normal stuff well. What I'm saying is I don't really care so much about the content of your paper—it can be super boring, and probably should be—as long as it makes sense and it looks like you've treated an actual issue that people discuss (you haven't made something up, or made a mountain out of a molehill) and you seem to have represented people's views fairly. 

Interact with good scholarship, represent it correctly in your writing, engage with it in good faith, push back on it in sensible ways. The point of the research paper is to teach you how to do research, and the first step is learning what sources to engage. 

The first thing I'm going to do when opening your research paper is run through the footnotes. I'm looking both at whether you know the formatting for a footnote and at the sources you cite. Don't shirk the footnotes. It's probably the most important part of the paper. 

By the way, this remains true for me as a working scholar. When I'm writing an academic paper, and I make an assertion in that paper, I know I often need to substantiate that assertion with a citation—but the problem is what to cite? I want to find not just another scholarly source that makes the same assertion, but the best scholarly source to cite for that particular assertion. The "best" in this case is (often) going to be recent (because a recent publication will probably review the works of other scholars in an up-to-date fashion) and is going to have a discussion of the assertion, with nuance. It sometimes takes days or weeks to figure out what is the best scholarly source to cite. 

If you're writing a research paper in a course on the book of Genesis (or whatever biblical book), I'd like to see some of the standard Genesis commentaries cited in the footnotes. The commentary section of a library is ideally where you would begin, just pulling books off the shelf and seeing what they say. I recognize that we live in a different world, and a lot of my students do not actually step inside a physical library. You use databases. But, the same rules apply. Start with the commentaries. You won't be able to go to the commentary section of the library, but don't skip the step of looking through some of the major commentaries. Don't go straight to the journal articles, even if they are easier for you to find in a database. You should cite journal articles, but you should also realize that they're not made for you (the student), they're made for me (the professional scholar). The commentaries are made for you (and me). 

By the way, the Anchor Bible Dictionary (ABD) is also made for you (and me). You should probably cite it in every biblical studies research paper you write. 

Avoid secondary citations. If you're going to tell me that Josephus says such-and-such, I want to see a citation of Josephus, not a citation of some modern book that has told you what Josephus says. If you're going to tell me what Barth said, same thing: cite Barth, not some scholar summarizing Barth (or, maybe, cite both, but definitely don't neglect to cite Barth himself). That means you've got to find Barth, or Josephus, and read them yourself, at least the relevant section of their work that you want to cite, to make sure they say what you're attributing to them. 

And, by the way, cite the best editions. For Josephus, in your case (a student), that is the Loeb Classical Library (LCL). (Don't know what that is? It's time to learn.) Do not cite Whiston. When you cite Philo, again, use the LCL, not Yonge. You should follow similar guidelines for all ancient literature (or medieval literature, etc.). If you're going to cite an English translation of the Septuagint, use NETS, not Brenton. If you need help here, ask me. 

Why should you not cite Whiston? The main thing is that Whiston is really old, eighteenth century. I know, you think he published his translation of Josephus in 2005, or whatever, but that's a reprint date. Look up William Whiston at wikipedia. He was an interesting guy, a lot of weird ideas, a brilliant fellow worth knowing about. But you'll see that he was most definitely not publishing books in the 21st century. Don't cite his translation of Josephus; cite the LCL. 

Watch out for those reprint dates. They are a pet-peeve of mine. I always like to see the original publication date. 

Your footnotes should look right. Put the commas in the correct spot. Include the relevant information. You don't think this is important? Well, I do. Figure out the proper way to cite an article in a book. Yes, there's a proper way. It's different from the proper way of citing a journal article. Our school uses the SBL Handbook of Style, so make your footnotes look like what they tell you in there. 

Research papers are not that hard. Yes, they take time, but all you have to do is follow a few rules. (1) Figure out an obvious (not obscure) thing to research. (2) Read relevant biblical commentaries. (3) Read relevant articles in the ABD. At this point, you should know the major issues and the major arguments. (4) It's time to follow up on ancient sources (read them in the original, or a translation, but not a modern summary). (5) Find some relevant journal articles. By the way, there's no reason to use obscure journals. Just stick with the best journals, usually published by a major academic publishing house. (6) Write your paper, summarizing your findings, indicating what you think is the best solution, or at least the direction you lean. Have a one-paragraph introduction, then the body of the paper, then a one-paragraph conclusion. Deviate from this formula once you've practiced it. In other words, don't deviate from this formula while you're my student. It's practice time. 

Wilken on Justinian

Sixth-century Mosaic of Justinian I in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna (Wikimedia Commons)

Continuing from yesterday, Wilken's chapter 26 is on Justinian. Here are my notes, with links. For more information, there is a Cambridge Companion (2005), edited by Michael Maas. 

Justinian (483–565) was born in Tauresium (wikipedia; see also "Justiniana Prima") in modern Serbia. 

Theodora (d. 28 June 548; wikipedia), wife of Justinian, recognized as a saint in the east.

Theodora, Wikimedia Commons

Procopius (c. 500–565, wikipedia). This historian's works are available in the Loeb Classical Library. His Secret History (wikipedia; a recent translation) is the source that says that Theodora was a prostitute before marriage. Justinian's constructions are chronicled in the work of Procopius called Buildings (wikipedia). 

Constantinople had 500,000 residents covering an area of five square kilometers (Wilken pp. 247–48).  

Church Buildings. "Justinian's architects ... broke with this tradition and turned to vaulted centrally planned structures with a dome carried on massive piers buttressed by semi-domes. ... Among churches in Constantinople constructed with domes during Justinian's reign, three stood out" (Wilken p. 249). 

• Church of Saints Sergios and Bacchos = Little Hagia Sophia (wikipedia), now a mosque. There is a church in Cairo with the same name (wikipedia), and it dates to the IV century and so has nothing to do with Justinian. 
• Church of Hagia Eirene (wikipedia). According to Wikipedia, it is one of the only churches in Istanbul not converted to a mosque, but today it serves as a museum and concert hall. 
• Church of Hagia Sophia (wikipedia), now a mosque. According to Wikipedia, from 1453 (the year of Constantinople's fall to the Turks), "it served as a mosque until 1935, when it became an interfaith museum, until being controversially reclassified solely as a mosque in 2020." For more, see further on wikipedia.

Hagia Sophia, Wikimedia Commons

Wilken (pp. 249–50) briefly describes the liturgy. 

Saint Catherine's Monastery (wikipedia; official website), also built on Justinian's orders. Egeria in the fourth century already found monks on Mt. Sinai. Procopius described the building (Wilken pp. 250–51). For the mosaic of the transfiguration described by Wilken, see here. 

Wikimedia Commons

As for the mosaics of Moses (two different ones) depicting his loosening his sandals and receiving the law, see images here. 

Roman law. Wikipedia: "Corpus Juris Civilis." "In some ways his most enduring project was the publication of a new code of law for the Roman Empire based on a revision of previous statutes" (Wilken p. 251). "It is made up of four different works: the Codex, a library of imperial pronouncements going back to the time of Hadrian; the Digest (or Pandects), a gathering of selections from the writings of classical jurists; the Institutes, an introduction to the Corpus and a summary of the laws and the basic principles guiding the revision; the Novels (novellae), more recent laws, particularly decrees of Justinian himself" (Wilken p. 252). Apparently Justinian instituted the procedure whereby people in a courtroom swear on a Bible. 

There are various English translations of the component parts of the Corpus Juris Civilis. The following are the most recent major translations I have been able to find. 

Codex: a 2016 3-vol. translation

Digest: a 1985 translation, under the direction of Alan Watson, reprinted, 4 vols. 

Institutes: a 1987 translation, a single volume

Novellae: a 2018 2-vol. translation

529 CE saw the closure of the Academy at Athens by imperial decree, and the establishment of the monastery at Monte Cassino by Benedict of Nursia. On the closing of the Academy, Edward J. Watts has a chapter in his book, Alan Cameron published a well-known paper in 1969, later reprinted in his collected papers. Wilken (p. 254) mentions Simplicius of Cilicia (wikipedia) and the Christian philosopher John Philoponus (wikipedia) and his "theory of impetus" (wikipedia). 

Justinian enshrined in civil law the decrees of the four ecumenical councils (Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, Chalcedon). See Novel 131, in an older translation here. 

Wilken does not mention Novel 146 (also here), the one wading into biblical translations, published on 8 February 553, thus providing the date for the annual International Septuagint Day. 

Three-Chapter Controversy (wikipedia), and the Second Council of Constantinople, 553 (wikipedia). This is mostly about the reception of the Council of Chalcedon. The 551 edict by Justinian on the True Faith is included in the Cambridge Edition of Early Christian Writings, vol. 4 (see here). 

Christianity in Central Asia, China, and India in the First Millennium CE

I've been reading Robert Louis Wilken, The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity (Yale, 2012), and today I read ch. 25, on the topic mentioned in the title of this post. 

Wilken's book is really good and helpful, and I'm learning a lot. One of the aspects of the book that makes it a quick read is that he documents nothing: there are no footnotes or endnotes, or citations at all. He quotes people, and sometimes he tells you the name of the person he's quoting, and sometimes he even tells you the work he's quoting from (e.g., the Church History of Eusebius), but he never provides precise citations, and sometimes he doesn't even tell you the name of the author (e.g., "an Arab writer"). All this is fine, because Wilken wanted his book to appeal to a broad audience. But sometimes I am compelled to find more specifics about what Wilken is talking about. 

So here are some notes on the chapter I read today, with links to various online sources, especially Wikipedia. I will say that I knew almost nothing about the subject treated in Wilken's chapter, so every aspect was a learning experience for me. And tracking down these links was a further learning experience. But doing this made reading the chapter take much longer, so I'm not sure I'll do it again. We'll see. 

The chapter has three main sections (not marked): Sogdiana, China, Inda. 

Sogdiana (Wilken 239–41)

"Already in the fifth century there was a bishop at Merv [wikipedia], an oasis on the Silk Road near the city of Mary in present-day Uzbekistan. Located twelve hundred miles east of Syria, Merv became the base for the mission to the Turkish tribes east of the Oxus River and eventually to China" (Wilken p. 239). 

Actually, Merv and Mary are in Turkmenistan, not Uzbekistan. (Google Maps) On the church in Merv, see Wikipedia: "Merv (East Syriac ecclesiastical province)." The most famous Christian bishop associated with Merv (at least, most famous to me) is Ishodad of Merv (wikipedia), but he was not a bishop of Merv, though he may have been born there. (Wikipedia is not sure why he is given the epithet "of Merv.") 

Timothy I (d. 823), catholicos of the Church of the East (wikipedia). Thomas of Marga (wikipedia) attests to Timothy's missionary zeal. 

Panjikent ostracon, VIII century, with portions of Psalm 1 and 2 in Syriac. Panjikent is in the far west of Tajikistan (Google Maps; wikipedia), about 60km east of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. I have not been able to locate a picture of the ostracon, but there is more information about it at this helpful online article on religion among the Sogdians, written by Judith A. Lerner. She provides a reference to what seems to be the major scholarly presentation of the ostracon, to which I do not currently have access: Aza Vladimirovna Paykova [Pajkova], “The Syrian Ostracon from Panjikant.” Le Muséon 92, nos. 1–2 (1979): 159–69.

At the time of the ostracon, "Christianity was well established there, and Samarkand was the seat of a metropolitan, an archbishop in communion with the catholicos in Baghdad" (Wilken p. 241). 

Wilken also mentions a silver dish with scenes from the book of Joshua, likewise mentioned by Lerner. Wikipedia calls it the Anikova Dish (here). 

Wilken (p. 241) mentions another "silver dish, now in the Hermitage Museum of Saint Petersburg, [which] includes three medallions depicting scenes from the gospels of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ, Peter's denials, soldiers guarding the grave, the robber Jesus forgave, Mary and Mary Magdalene, and angels." 

I'm not sure that I've been able to locate online this object, but my best guess is that it's the object called here "Censer with Christ, Mary, Angels and Apostles." 

China (Wilken 241–43)

Wikipedia: "Christianity in China"; "Church of the East in China"

This blog post at The Collector, written by Neven Rogic (Nov 9, 2024), is also helpful. 

Xi'an Stele (wikipedia), described by Wilken (p. 242) as the "most impressive evidence of the presence of Christianity in ancient China." 

Jingjiao Documents (wikipedia), described by Wilken (p. 243) as "a cache of Christian documents ... found in a walled-up chapel in Tunhuang early in the nineteenth century. These include writings in Chinese by Christian monks, some translated from the Syriac, others original contributions." The date Wilken gives for their discovery must be wrong; I think he should have said "early in the twentieth century." These Christian documents seem to be part of the Dunhuang manuscripts (wikipedia). 

In 845, a decree prohibited Christianity (see here). Wilken also mentions "an Arab writer in Baghdad" who reported a conversation in 987 documenting the near-extinction of Christianity in China. This Arab writer, as Wikipedia tells us, is Ibn al-Nadim.

India (Wilken 243–45)

Wikipedia: "Christianity in India"

Thomas the Apostle, in the Acts of Thomas (Syriac, III/IV century). Traditional place of martyrdom: St. Thomas Mount in India (wikipedia)

Wikipedia "Saint Thomas Christians"; "Church of the East in India"

Eusebius, Church History 5.10, says that Pantaenus preached in India, found Christian already there. 

Cosmas Indicopleustes ("the Indian Navigator"), wikipedia. Wilken tells a little of his story at the very beginning of this chapter. 

"Though the Church in India was founded by Greek-speaking Christians sailing from Roman Egypt, in the third and fourth centuries, as trade between Egypt and India declined, it came under the influence, and eventually the jurisdiction, of the Syriac-speaking Church in Persia" (Wilken p. 245). 

"Though bishops in India and China were not required to attend the general synod of the Church, they were expected to prepare a report every six years informing the catholicos of the situation in their dioceses" (Willen p. 245).