A history of "visions". Constantine and the phenomena of personal contact with the supernatural
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6092/1593-2214/5505Keywords:
Visions of the supernatural, Religious discourses, Religious authorities, Segmented identities, Constantine and the re-invention of religious traditionsAbstract
Starting from the analysis concerning Constantine’s “visions” in Pan. lat. VI (VII) ed. Mynors (= VII [VI] ed. Galletier), DMP 44 and VC 1, 27-32, as it is carried out by Barbero in his book Costantino il vincitore in relation and in reaction to P. Weiss’ studies, this paper aims at examining the phenomena of “culturalisation” of ritual experiences of personal contact with the supernatural as instruments of “accreditation” of specific discourses as well as mirrors of competitive dynamics of construction for religious authority(-ies). On the basis of such a perspective, this essay re-reads also the debate on religious identities in 4th cent. CE, especially in light of R. Brubaker’s concept of “segmented” identity: the re-declination of specific experiences of personal contact with the “other” world in terms of an “actual” vision of the supernatural is a kind of “translation”, within and for various contexts and/or individualities, of that bodily reactions which in several ways are linked to late-antique rituals and rituality; this implies that late-antique scene cannot be reduced to that contraposition between “pagans” and “Christians” (and/or “Jews”), which is still very present among scholars.
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