Recherche – Detailansicht

Ausgabe:

November/2010

Spalte:

1227-1229

Kategorie:

Kirchengeschichte: Alte Kirche, Christliche Archäologie

Autor/Hrsg.:

Tabbernee, William

Titel/Untertitel:

Prophets and Gravestones. An Imagina­tive History of Montanists and Other Early Christians.

Verlag:

Peabody: Hendrickson 2009. XXX, 338 S. m. Abb. u. Ktn. gr.8°. Kart. US$ 29,95. ISBN 978-1-56563-937-9.

Rezensent:

Vera-Elisabeth Hirschmann

William Tabbernee’s latest book on Montanism is a successful alternative to the usual kind of monograph dealing with one of the most important chapters in the history of the early Church. T. himself explains that his book has »a novelistic approach, but [is] ... not a novel« (Introduction, 3). This takes up what he writes in the »Note to the Reader« about »imaginative history« and »fictional narrative« and is intended as a captatio benevolentiae to counter objections to an unusual approach for a work of scholarship.
Prophets and Gravestones can be described as a pure sourcebook, which in 38 individual chapters provides a detailed, chronologically arranged overview of all the important historical information on the history of Montanism. Beginning with Montanus’ first prophesying in Phrygia, around the middle of the second century C. E., it ends with the destruction of the Montanist churches in Pepouza by John of Ephesus in 550 C. E. The book may be written in the style of a novel, but this should not obscure the fact that T. uses all the relevant texts, which are duly registered in the notes, and woven into his account. Further, the notes refer to modern research contributions, including the latest scholarly literature, on aspects of Montanism and the early Church. The individual chapters form self-contained thematic units, and are illustrated by photographs of landscapes and remains of ancient buildings, as well as by draw­ings of tombstones (made from squeezes). The work is introduced by a Prologue and ends with an Epilogue, which recount in the same narrative style two key events in Montanist history. (Pro­-logue: the journey to Pepouza in ca. 178 C. E. by Bishops Zotikos of Konana and Julian of Apameia, to carry out an exorcism of the Montanist prophetess Maximilla, cf. the Anonymus ap. Eus., HE 5.16.17, and Apollonius, ibid. 5.18.2. Epilogue: the Montanist Abbot Euthemius and his senior administrator Theophylaktus travel back to Pepouza from the Second Council of Nicaea, cf. Mansi 1761-2, 13.631 and 13.153.) While these and similar elements may make Prophets and Gravestones seem like a novel, the book’s structure makes clear that it is a work of non-fiction. The narrative part is prefaced by a list of the archaeological maps and drawings or photographs of the archaeological evidence. Readers will also be grateful to T. for the chronological table, likewise at the beginning of the book, which sets out in parallel the dates of the emperors’ reigns and the persons and events discussed in the text. At relevant points helpful maps, six in all, provide both overviews and detail on the geography of Montanism.
Each chapter begins with a leading figure and this allows the reader to gain immediate access to the chapter and can follow the main individual through the telling of the history. The extent to which fictional elements are involved varies in the individual narratives. Many passages are markedly more based on fact, for example chapter 10, the leading figure in which is Tertullian, others, such as chapter 27, have rather more of the characteristics of a novel. As it would take up too much space to summarize every chapter here and this would in any case detract from the overall view, it may suffice to describe chapter 27 as an example. T. handles here one of the most significant epigraphic records of Montanism, the tombstone of the Phrygian prophetess Nanas, from the mid-fourth century C. E. ( SEG 43 [1993], no. 943). He begins the chapter with Hermogenes, named in the funerary inscription as Nanas’s father. First of all, Hermogenes, who here as a piece of fiction is portrayed as a well-known horse-breeder, is introduced to the reader (221 f.). The emotional tie with Hermogenes that the reader thus gains becomes all the deeper when it is revealed that Hermogenes’ daughter, a gifted prophetess, has died before him and that he has set up her tombstone (223, fig. 220). The climax is reached when Hermogenes visits the grave of his daughter and her husband and gives free rein to his grief. T. discusses historically critical passages of the funerary inscription in the notes and thus gives the reader insight into the scholarly background to the Nanas episode.
One point of criticism is that it may be too easy for uninitiated readers to become so immersed in this fluent essay, which is often excitingly written – see for example the narrative fireworks in chapter 38, on the destruction of the Montanist churches – as to commit to memory the fictional elements rather than the factual discussion in the notes. Further, the Table of Contents does not imme­-diately make the book’s structure clear. It would perhaps be an advantage to highlight the chronological order by inserting dates after the chapter titles. These points aside, one must conclude on a positive note: Prophets and Gravestones is very readable history of Montanism. Whereas the specialized literature, which is often un­readable, does not necessarily guarantee a better scholarly insight into the subject, the present work offers an original alternative: it is based on the sources and supplies all the necessary facts and refer­ences to modern research.