Wisdom’s Missionary: Alfred the Great and the Pursuit of Wisdom in Anglo-Saxon Spirituality

315 Pages·2016·1.63 MB·English

by  James Andrew Estes

THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA

Wisdom’s Missionary:
Alfred the Great and the Pursuit of Wisdom in Anglo-Saxon Spirituality

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to the Faculty of the
School of Theology and Religious Studies
Of the Catholic University of America
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
For the Degree
Doctor of Philosophy

By
James Andrew Estes

Washington, DC

2016
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Wisdom’s Missionary:
Alfred the Great and the Pursuit of Wisdom in Anglo-Saxon Spirituality

James Andrew Estes, PhD
Director: Joshua Benson, PhD
Co-Director: Lilla Kopár, PhD

Abstract

Alfred, King of Wessex (r. 871-899), is commonly studied as a military, political, and
educational leader and reformer in Anglo-Saxon England, but not as a religious leader, and his
cultural reform program’s translation of Latin works into Old English receives little attention in
scholarship on Christian spirituality or medieval English vernacular theology. Such inattention is
a symptom of the larger problem that Anglo-Saxon Christianity, particularly with regard to its
vernacular literature, is often overlooked in the study of medieval Christian spirituality. This
dissertation repositions Alfred as an Anglo-Saxon spiritual authority dedicated to teaching and
learning for the purpose of Christian spiritual formation. It interprets two texts from Alfred’s
reign: the Vita Ælfredi by Asser, and Alfred’s Old English translation of Gregory the Great’s
Cura pastoralis. These works are treated as primary theological sources for examining Alfred’s
role as a wisdom seeker and spiritual authority. The Vita Ælfredi intentionally depicts Alfred as a
kingly wisdom figure with a lifelong devotion to the study of religious literature. As a hagio-
biography, the Vita demonstrates how teaching and wisdom are fundamental to Alfred’s
religious experience. Alfred’s orientation to wisdom becomes a central tenet of his personal and
vocational life, and the text positions Alfred as a new Solomon for Anglo-Saxon England.
Alfred’s prologue to the Cura pastoralis serves as Alfred’s meditation on English Christianity’s
sapiential decline, and his Old English translation of the Cura promotes teaching and the practice
of wisdom for the restoration of Christian glory. Further, Alfred’s writing and his deployment of
Gregory’s ascetical handbook establishes Alfred in the lineage of spiritual leaders responsible for
the religious oversight and continued spiritual formation of the Anglo-Saxons. These texts
demonstrate that Alfred’s cultural and educational reform functions as a program in spiritual
reformation aimed at the restoration of the Anglo-Saxons as a wise Christian people.
Furthermore, both Alfred’s Old English translation and original text for the Cura pastoralis serve
as primary sources for the study of Anglo-Saxon Christian spirituality and Old English
vernacular theology.
This dissertation by James Andrew Estes fulfills the dissertation requirement for the doctoral
degree in Theology and Religious Studies approved by Joshua Benson, PhD, as Director, Lilla
Kopár, PhD, as Co-Director, and Raymond Studzinski, OSB, PhD, as Reader.

_____________________________________________
Joshua Benson, PhD, Director

_____________________________________________
Lilla Kopár, PhD, Co-Director

_____________________________________________
Raymond Studzinski, OSB, PhD, Reader

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To my parents, George and Evelina Estes

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& forðon ic ðe bebiode ðæt ðu do swæ ic geliefe ðæt ðu wille, ðæt ðu ðe ðissa
woruldðinga to ðæm geæmetige swæ ðu oftost mæge, ðæt ðu ðone wisdom ðe ðe God
sealde ðær ðær ðu hiene befæstan mæge, befæste.

(And therefore, I bid that you do as I believe you are willing to do, that you detach
yourself from these worldly things as often as you can, so that you would commit to the
wisdom which God gave you, wherever you can.)

— Alfred the Great

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CONTENTS

Abbreviations vii

Acknowledgments ix

Chapter 1. The Spirituality of an Anglo-Saxon King 1

1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 King Alfred and his Reform Program 7
1.3 Excursa and Assumptions 26
1.4 Outline of this Dissertation 54

Chapter 2. What has Bede to do with Beowulf? Surveying the Landscape
of Anglo-Saxon Spirituality 58

2.1 The Anglo-Saxons: A Converted and Converting People 58
2.2 Sources for the Study of Anglo-Saxon Spirituality: Old English Literature 73
2.3 The Reception and Critical Interpretation of Anglo-Saxon Spirituality 94
2.4 Conclusion 109

Chapter 3. Life in the Spirit: Approaches and Issues in the Study of Spirituality 111

3.1 Theological and Historical Considerations 112
3.2 Scholarly Considerations: Spirituality as Lived Religious Experience 134
3.3 Summary and Implications 148

Chapter 4. The Vita Ælfredi: Reframing Alfred as Spiritual Authority 152

4.1 Introduction 152
4.2 A Holy Biography: Reading the Vita Ælfredi 153
4.3 Alfred the Wise: His Youth and Reign 163
4.4 Wisdom’s Call 181

Chapter 5. That There Would be Greater Wisdom in the Land 200

5.1 Introduction 200
5.2 Reflecting on Wisdom 215
5.3 Discerning Wisdom 227
5.4 Mediating Wisdom 248
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5.5 Teaching Wisdom 255

Conclusion 262

Appendix: Scriptural References in the Cura pastoralis 268

Bibliography 274

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ABBREVIATIONS

ASC Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
ASE Anglo-Saxon England
BL British Library
CEB Common English Bible [Bible translation]
CP Cura pastoralis
DEB De excidio Britonum
EETS Early English Text Society
ESV English Standard Version [Bible translation]
GRA Gesta regum Anglorum
HE Historia ecclesiastica  gentis Anglorum
JEGP Journal of English and Germanic Philology
JPS Jewish Publishing Society
KJV King James Version [Bible translation]
MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica
MS Manuscript
NABRE New American Bible, Revised Edition
NJB New Jerusalem Bible [Bible translation]
NRSV New Revised Standard Version [Bible translation]
NIV New International Version [Bible translation]
OE Old English
OED Oxford English Dictionary
PL Patrologia Latina
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