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AUDIENCE COMMENTS |
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An opportunity for the audience to have their say on In Our Time. |
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BEDE
Douglas Clarke..........Bede
The programme about Bede was interesting, as were the associated messages (eg about the early (Celtic) Christians in Wales). The contribution of Celtic Christians seems to be largely ignored, eg in books on the history of the English language. I presume the lives of Christians in Wales, Ireland/Scotland and England can be traced back to the Roman occupation of Britain (eg St Alban). Can anyone give me (and others) any references to books on early Christianity in Britain and Ireland, please? Douglas Clarke
Beerdedegg Re-Elaine Henderson , Bede & Tonsures
In answer to Elaine Henderson's question. The western or Roman Church shaved a tonsure that would leave a fringe of hair around the head, regarded as symbolising the crown of thorns. In the Celtic Church of the 6th & 7th centuries the custom was to shave the front of the head from ear to earallowing the hair to grow at the back. The justification for the Roman tonsure is set out in Book v chapter 21 of Bede, but it boils down to did you cut your hair like St Peter or Simon Magus. The Roman church denouncing Simon Magus after he was rebuked by St Peter(Acts 8. 9-24.
David Price
Bede should be taken in context: it is an Anglo-Saxon and Roman history. The western parts of the country are not much mentioned, except the slaughter of British Christians at Bangor, near Chester, and the denigration of other Christians in the earlier centuries as heretics. We learn a bit about their long-standing doctrine which differed from Rome. Bede is an official history but he lets slip some very interesting facts of what was unofficial through holes in his rhetoric. If there were scores, maybe hundreds of colleges like Bangor in the west of Britain, (there were 2100 Christian scholars at Bangor), it is likely that they must have had many copies of the Bible in circulation. The Anglo-Saxon project was a costly, politically important Latin megaproject to impress the population about leadership by a Big Book. All we have of the "other" history are scraps fallen between the planks of Bede's publicity and official history. Latin, in spite of four hundred years of Roman occupation made little impression in the Welsh areas. There are few Latin words embedded in Welsh from the Roman occupation period, I am told. Yet there is evidence of Greek words in church contexts. Are there any Welsh scholars who can comment on this?
Jeremy Muldowney: Ven. Bede
Can we be absolutely certain of Bede's editorship of the "Ceolfrith Bible"? I agree that he must be the most likely candidate, but he makes no such claims himself in his own resume of his work. This would, of course, be entirely consistant with the humility of the man. However, even when refering (elsewhere)to the three "pandects" (complete texts) commissioned by Ceolfrith, he does not appear to claim any part in their production. Moreover, the surviving example -now known as the Codex Amiatinus - now held in the Biblioteca Laurenziana, Florence, has been subject to much scholarly debate for many years. There seems little doubt of its Northumbrian origin, though even that has been challenged from time to time. Significantly perhaps,even the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church does not list Bede among the editors of the definitive Vulgate text. (Interestingly, his fellow - later - Northumbrian scholar, Alcuin is listed.) I confess to splitting a few hairs here ... I'm probably as convinced as anyone that Bede and Ceolfrith were indeed behind this oldest complete Latin single-volume Bible, but I remain a touch uneasy about claiming as unqualified "fact" something which I currently think can only be (albeit highly informed) speculation. Jeremy Muldowney: York Minster Centre for School Visits
Terry Walls - Of Bede Fields and Bosons
In the following lines I will attempt a gratuitous, unifying transformation of the last two IOT episodes into one. You may consider my exposition as completely erroneous, risible nonsense, or has having a certain charm. Here goes:- When the tranquillity of the Bede's mind (also referred to as the Bede Field) is perturbed by a thought ( a thought may be considered analogous to a singularity i.e. initially having no structure, or substance) a resonance in the crystal lattice of the Bede field generates ideas (Fermions). Ideas, themselves, create secondary ripples in the Bede field (words, or Bosons) as they mediate interactions between ideas to form sentences (atoms). If we define ourselves as Bede Fields a question occurs: "Does the Bede Field exist within the Higgs Field, or the Higgs Field within the Bede Field?" The answer - to life, the universe, everything - is simple... Fermions AND Bosons: too greedy - take the razor to the Fermions: then they need only appear as virtual particles as a result of Boson interactions. Higgs Field? Don't bother - have a word with a Kantain: space and time have neither an a priori, nor a posteriori verification, they are 'intuitions': mental constructs to allow us to order experience. So where are we? No space, no time, no events, no matter! We seem to be back to a singularity - now there's a thought.
Alison Wood - The Venerable Bead
The programme this morning was indeed excellent in terms of content and accessibilty, as always. I do however notice that Melvyn tends to be rather predisposed to cynical and often patronising interjections to his female interviewees, and never the male contributers. I hope this is all in my imagination. Has anyone else noticed this unsettling tendency?
Bill Davidson - The Venerable Bede (and every othe
I loved today's programme, just as I have enjoyed all the previous editions I have been able to listen to. "Being able to listen to" In Our Time is becoming more and more difficult for me, though, because of the anguish I am caused by the participants' insistence on using the present (and sometimes even future) tense to describe events that took place in history - in today's case over a thousand years ago. This affectation (for it seems to be de rigeur among media historians)is not only irritating, it leads to confusion, as when a recent programme compared the legal systems of England and Germany (the modern versions of which, we know, have their differences) and it became impossible to tell whether the speaker referred to the medieval or the modern. Fearing that my irritation was simply the result of a personal distaste for modish forms of speech, I have waited until I recently heard my views echoed by friends before making this plea - Please encourage your participants (including Melvyn himself) to use the appropriate tense and thus make it even more worthwhile for us to listen to them.
William Holding - The Veneral Bede
Today's 'In Our Time' programme on Bede was excellent Melvyn (and the trailer re the beady-eyed John made me fall out of bed earlier than normal with laughter). This episode told me who Bede was, what he did and more importantly put him in context historically, politically and socially - and was another enthralling piece of radio. Your ability to select the experts (and the topic) and to guide the programme through to its purpose is a rare skill greatly appreciated (and quite a rare event these days, even on Radio 4) Bede's importance and his place in history became self-evident Your programmes are full of surprises too (cf my comments on Pi); for someone like me whose history of the world started with Alfred the Great (as it was for the majority of my peers at school) I was able to move even him from the kitchen into a wider sphere of influence; I was amazed too to discover his (probable) involvement in the translation of the bible (Bede's bible?) into olde english. You also touched upon Edwin and Beowulf adding to the context. As someone who has moved recently from London to Durham (and is only a 15min drive from Monkwearmouth) you have spurred me on to go searching for Bede's places of influence next summer. Your experts too were really on form too; they imparted their knowledge without me requiring much prerequisite knowledge (historical or technical) - and they were particularly articulate and communicative in this episode. Finally - and without wishing to blur this accolade in any way - I can't help hoping that Mark Damazer was listening too and that he realises the brilliance of programmes like yours and there rarity on Radio 4 (anywhere), how precious they are and how avidly they are listened to. Thank you again Melvyn....
Alex Afriyie - Bede
I just wanted to say thank you very much for a brilliant programme. I sat transfixed by the subject of Bede and his accomplishments. How interesting to hear something intelligent on the media and to begin to put together the early history of England and its Christianity. Keep going for it Melvyn.
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