Graduation Year
Fall 2012
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Music
Reader 1
Charles Kamm
Reader 2
YouYoung Kang
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2012 Jordan Lippert
Abstract
Spanning the first seven centuries of Christianity, this paper explores how Eastern Christian and Byzantine hymn chant was developed alongside pagan and Jewish worship traditions around the Near East. Comparison of hymns by Christian composers such as St. Romanos the Melodist and pagan poetry reveals many similarities in the types of metaphorical imagery used in both religious expressions. Common in Christian hymn texts, well-known metaphors, like the “Light of God,” are juxtaposed with pagan mythological gods, such as Apollo and Helios. This paper attempts to explain how and why Christians appropriated and adopted ancient pagan imagery into the burgeoning musical tradition of Christian hymn singing.
Recommended Citation
Lippert, Jordan, "From Profane to Divine: The Hegemonic Appropriation of Pagan Imagery into Eastern Christian Hymnody" (2012). Scripps Senior Theses. 151.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/151
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