medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Colleagues,
In one of the Middle English apocryphal infancy gospels I'm working
on, I came across an interesting couplet:
For žat is nou icome žat 3wilene seide daui
In že saume žat men callez flumen dei
"Lumen dei" I might have expected; "flumen dei" seemed unusual in this
prophetic / christological context.
With a little poking around online, I tracked the reference to Psalm
64 (65): 10 ("flumen Dei repletum est aquis" / the river of God is
filled with water), and with a little more probing I found that Ps 64
is part of the Office of the Dead and a (contemporary?) blessing of
herbs and fruits associated with the Feast of the Assumption of the
Virgin. I can see a metaphoric connection between water and harvest,
of course, but beyond that, I'm stumped for specifics.
Would any of you with more expertise and suitable research materials
have any idea of how or where "flumen dei" might have been understood
liturgically and theologically or used in 12th -14th century?
(Patristic references are also welcome.)
As always, I appreciate the generosity and helpfulness of medieval-
religion listmembers.
Best from Anchorage,
Dan
_________________________________________
Daniel T. Kline
Associate Professor of English
U of Alaska Anchorage
Anchorage, Alaska 99508
907-786-4364 / [log in to unmask]
hosting.uaa.alaska.edu/afdtk/ect_main.htm
"Fortunately, I keep my feathers
numbered for just such an emergency."
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