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Byzantine Tree Life : Christianity and the Arboreal Imagination

Arentzen, Thomas LU ; Burrus, Virginia and Peers, Glenn (2021) In New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture
Abstract
This book examines the many ways Byzantines lived with their trees. It takes seriously theological and hagiographic tree engagement as expressions of that culture’s deep involvement—and even fascination—with the arboreal. These pages tap into the current attention paid to plants in a wide range of scholarship, an attention that involves the philosophy of plant life as well as scientific discoveries of how communicative trees may be, and how they defend themselves. Considering writings on and images of trees from Late Antiquity and medieval Byzantium sympathetically, the book argues for an arboreal imagination at the root of human aspirations to know and draw close to the divine.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Book/Report
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Trees, Byzantine Christianity, Dendrites, Icons, Hexaemeron, hybridity, Anthropomorphism, Plant sex, Grafting, Animism, Locus amoenus
in
New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture
pages
206 pages
publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
external identifiers
  • scopus:85111286564
ISBN
9783030759025
9783030759018
DOI
10.1007/978-3-030-75902-5
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f7919b28-4580-4bfe-92a3-8e87d74d5876
date added to LUP
2020-10-09 08:23:01
date last changed
2024-03-20 17:38:42
@book{f7919b28-4580-4bfe-92a3-8e87d74d5876,
  abstract     = {{This book examines the many ways Byzantines lived with their trees. It takes seriously theological and hagiographic tree engagement as expressions of that culture’s deep involvement—and even fascination—with the arboreal. These pages tap into the current attention paid to plants in a wide range of scholarship, an attention that involves the philosophy of plant life as well as scientific discoveries of how communicative trees may be, and how they defend themselves. Considering writings on and images of trees from Late Antiquity and medieval Byzantium sympathetically, the book argues for an arboreal imagination at the root of human aspirations to know and draw close to the divine.}},
  author       = {{Arentzen, Thomas and Burrus, Virginia and Peers, Glenn}},
  isbn         = {{9783030759025}},
  keywords     = {{Trees; Byzantine Christianity; Dendrites; Icons; Hexaemeron; hybridity; Anthropomorphism; Plant sex; Grafting; Animism; Locus amoenus}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Palgrave Macmillan}},
  series       = {{New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture}},
  title        = {{Byzantine Tree Life : Christianity and the Arboreal Imagination}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75902-5}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/978-3-030-75902-5}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}