Inhalt: | "In The Concept of the Elect Nation in Byzantium, Shay Eshel shows how the Old Testament model of the ancient Israelites was a prominent factor in the evolution of Roman-Byzantine national awareness between the 7th and 13th centuries. The Byzantines' interpretation of the 7th century epic events as manifestations of God's wrath enabled them to incorporate the events into a paradigm which they now embraced: the Old Testament paradigm of the Israelite Elect Nation's complex relationship with God, a cyclic relation of sin, wrath, punishment, repentance and salvation. The Elect Nation concept enabled the Byzantines to express the shift in their collective identity toward a shrunken, yet more clearly defined, national awareness"-- Introduction -- The elect nation concept as part of the Byzantine response to the calamities of the seventh century -- The institutional adoption and use of the elect nation concept from Heraklios to Leo III -- The elect nation concept as an identity element of the embattled Byzantine society, seventh-ninth centuries -- The effect of the iconoclast controversy upon the Byzantine elect nation concept -- The Macedonian dynasty and the expanding empire, ninth-tenth centuries -- Two concepts of election, influence and competition : Byzantium and the Franks during the Crusades -- Summary and conclusions |
