Overview

Narratives of monastic life in Anglo-Saxon England depict individuals as responsible agents in the assumption and performance of religious identities. To modern eyes, however, many of the 'choices' they make would actually appear to be compulsory. Stealing Obedience explores how a Christian notion of agent action - where freedom incurs responsibility - was a component of identity in the last hundred years of Anglo-Saxon England, and investigates where agency (in the modern sense) might be sought in these narratives. Katherine O'Brien O'Keeffe looks at Benedictine monasticism through the writings of lfric, Anselm, Osbern of Canterbury, and Goscelin of Saint-Bertin, as well as liturgy, canon and civil law, chronicle, dialogue, and hagiography, to analyse the practice of obedience in the monastic context. Stealing Obedience brings a highly original approach to the study of Anglo-Saxon narratives of obedience in the adoption of religious identity.

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9781487520625

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Reviews

'Imaginative and sophisticated monograph... Katherine O'Brien O'Keeffe must be warmly congratulated on her fine accomplishment, which will be useful to scholars interested in English monastic life and obedience on either side of the Norman Conquest.' -- Francesca Tinti Speculum vol 90:01:2015 'Solid cultural and historical grounding, artfully framed by appropriate theoretical models, characterize this study... Highly recommended' -- M.B. Busbee Choice Magazine; vol 50:04:2012 'Stealing Obedience is a fresh look at a body of narrative sources which have only rarely been theorized and troubled so effectively.' -- Justin Haar Comitatus vol 44: September 2013 'A pleasure to read...Speaks to a range of disciplinary interests, and deserves attention as an authoritative contribution to debates about identity and selfhood in Middle Ages.' -- Catherine A.M. Clarke Modern Language Review vol 108:04:2013

Author Information

Katherine O’Brien O’Keeffe is a professor in the Department of English and the director of the Medieval Studies Program at the University of California, Berkeley.

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