Brian Dunkle, S. J. | Enchantment and Creed in the Hymns of Ambrose of Milan
11:54AM Jun 2, +0000
Speakers:
Jonathan J. Armstrong
Fr. Brian Dunkle, S.J.
Keywords:
ambrose
hymns
gustin
mysteries
milan
terms
father
call
nicene
hymn writers
form
sings
christian
scriptural interpretation
church
worship
works
wrote
christians
trinity
Today it's our honor to be speaking with Father Brian dunkel, Assistant Professor of historical theology at Boston College, and the author of the text that we'll be discussing today. enchantment and creed in the hymns of Ambrose of Milan, available from Oxford University Press, first published in 2016. Father dunkel thank you so much for your time this morning. Very happy to be here. Thank you for having me. Father dunkel. This text is a revised edition of your doctoral dissertation which you submitted to the University of Notre Dame in 2015, submitting the dissertation under Brian Daly. The book represents a thoroughgoing analysis of the hymnody of one of the first grade hymn writers of the church, Ambrose of Milan, how did you select this project for your doctoral research?
It's a very good question. Some of the factors were purely occasional, I can't really count for them better of what I saw to be a lack in the scholarship and what I thought I could supply. But when I began doctoral studies, I was very much interested in early Christian, let's say, literature, poems, hymns, verse of different sorts. And people often ask whether I was sort of a musician myself, and it's not really the case. I mean, I love singing, and I'm happy enough to participate when the occasion arises. But it's much more of a literary interest, at least initially. And as I explored the development, the emergence of a kind of distinctive early Christian literature and verse form, in these early centuries, especially in the fourth century, there were different figures who emerged is very, very central to the development. Gregory of nazianzus, one of the kaput oceans, f from the Syrian, in the east, in the kind of Semitic languages, but also Ambrose of Milan. And as I got to know, Ambrose, more and more, I realized, well, how seminal how important his, his hymns really were, and would be for the development of Christian humidity, both Latin and Greek. But I also came to see that while so many of his hymns had been analyzed and parsed and debated precisely because of issues of attribution, or who actually wrote them, which gets very complicated with him that he, I couldn't find just a book in English that said, here's an introduction, or here's an exposition of the kind of central themes of Ambrose's hymnody. So as it came time to sort of narrow the focus, I decided to redirect from just say, hymnody, in general, or compact comparative study, perhaps, to say, well, for the rest of my life, I'm going to have to say what I wrote my dissertation on. And it's simple enough quickly enough to say Ambrose's hymns. And that was part of the incentive, but it mostly it was it was trying to respond to something I saw to be a lack. And an area that I saw also emerging in the scholarship is more and more central. So textual sources for the development of Christian doctrine that are not so much say, treatise like or letters, or the other formal venues for expanding that doctrine, but rather, the worship, the songs that that these Christians sang, and the special role that played in their collective identity.
It's a fascinating study, and one that has a lot of intense literary analysis. But you also place yourself in the mindset of the ancient person. What types of explorations did you do, perhaps to help feel what ancient music would sound like and feel like?
I've looked at scholarship, and there are some attempts to reconstruct early Christian Hindi, it gets very, very speculative very quickly, whoever because there are two major issues. One, we don't have any music, least annotated music until the eighth century, so about 400 years after Ambrose actually wrote these hymns. The other is that even where we did have access to the music, it's very, it's a very tricky business to say this is how that tone would have made them feel or this is the effect of that tonality, because music is so contextual. So the best approach I found well was to move when I moved from literary analysis, which is the real bedrock of this study, to look at receptions or reactions to the to the Hibbs foremost say in the works of a Gustin of Hippo, who talks about the hymns and the effect they had on him. They're ancient sources that talk about how these hymns spread and affected, affected different congregations and sort of groups who identified with Ambrose. So those became important sources for me as well. But then also to, in some sense, put yourself in a mindset ask questions about, say, say between reading a text, as a scholarly enterprise and seeing it at Mass, or seeing it in a liturgy. What What is the difference in effect, especially of repetition, of, of sort of drawing phrases out, and sharing them with the congregation in a unique sort of way.
Father Dunkel throughout the book, you demonstrate that Ambrose argues in his hymnody for Nicene orthodoxy, and to many of us who are newcomers to ancient hymnody. This might be quite striking, to argue for such a doctrinally robust, precise position through song that's not something we necessarily do in the modern period. Would you be willing to give us an example or two of how Ambrose's hymns argue for Nicene orthodoxy.
Now part of the argument there hinges on the fact that so much of him at around the time of Ambrose's coming of age, was centered on issues of Orthodoxy and heresy. You know, the famous heretic arius, wrote hymns to spread his doctrine, at least according to his opponents. And so given that backdrop, it makes some sense that Ambrose would be achieving or aiming for a similar goal. And it's important to note that because often the sort of doctrine doesn't jump off the page, when you first see these hymns, it's not transparent that they're trying to say, to transmit the creed of 325, for instance. So it does take some digging and some sensitivity, especially literary sensitivity to ways that he might be making this case. And I'm not original here and making this argument. I mean, there are many other studies, especially in particular hymns that that do this. But I would say that's the first step of probably being a pro Nicene theologian around Ambrose's times is being very, very emphatic about the kind substantiality of the Father and the Son, as you will know. And, you know, Ambrose doesn't use the standard Latin terms for being consubstantial. So unity of substance, for instance, but he does use the same terms, especially in in operations in the world and actions in the world, for the father in the sun, often terms that would jumped out if you knew the backdrop, and if you knew that the debates themselves terms like being eternal. So to claim that the sun is eternal, like the father, eternal is often exclusively the property of the Father, someone who is beyond time. And whereas you say areas might say there was when the sun was not the in response figures like Athanasius. And then Ambrose himself would say, No, the sun is just as eternal as God the Father, other terms and so that that comes up in the very first of the hymn that's usually in the connection, a collection of Ambrose's whimsicality random Candy Candy tour. There's other examples, though, of emphasis on the Trinity. And it's an emphasis that you see, say, a Gustin pick up on when he talks about Ambrose's hymns. But at the very end of one of Ambrose's hymns, Deus creator, Omnium God, the Creator of all things, he ends with a petition to the Trinity. And he speaks of the trinity of being sort of united in power, Unum potence per Omnia, so to sort of be one in what they do and what they can do. And that phrase in particular, would have distinctively say Trinitarian, obviously, but also Nicene resonances for our community that's sort of conscious, aware of these divisions among Christians. And so to sing it again and again, would reinforce just those sorts of resonances that I'm indicating.
Father Dunkel, by the time we get to chapter three of your book, enchantment and creed and the hymns of Ambrose of Milan, you introduced to us a pretty tough concept. I'll just be honest here. I'm going to need a little help you speak of the Mr. goji of nature, would you be willing to explain to us what you mean by this key concept, Mr. goji of nature?
Yes, thank you. I sometimes find myself so embedded in this Ambrose's world that concepts that seems familiar after reading him enough, really, I really have to realize that they're not so familiar to different audience. And so the basis of this term is really Ambrose's old works that are often identified as Mr. Go G's, namely, a sort of leading into the mysteries, and by mysteries, he means both the sacraments are the mysteries of worship, but also the mysteries, the hidden things in scriptural interpretation. And it's a term that had a wide valence in his time, it meant a lot of different things. But it was especially keyed to scriptural interpretation where, say, David in the Old Testament could be a kind of mystery of Christ and the new the temple could be a mystery of something revealed further in the New Testament. So these are ways in which specific reference or a specific ecclesial act, a liturgical act, could, could represent could symbolize we have these different synonyms for the word mystery, something that's much deeper and in fact, transcendent. Though Ambrose's in particular has two works. One is called on mysteries or on the mysteries, and another, that's called on the sacraments. And it's clear that he uses those terms interchangeably, that to speak about mysteries is to pick about spat sacraments. And therefore, speaking about sacraments is also speaking about biblical mysteries, not simply say, the Eucharist or baptism. And so that's part of the backdrop. Now, when I speak of, of the Mr. goji of nature, I'm stretching the term even further, this is not something Ambrose would have said. But I think it's a way that he teaches a way that he categorizes especially through song by applying many of the techniques he uses, in both scriptural and let's say, liturgical exegesis or interpretation, that is showing what's hidden behind the appearance of a text or showing what's hidden behind the, the the performance of a liturgical action or a ritual action. He does the same sort of thing by saying what's hidden behind say, the Cox Crowe in the morning, the call of the rooster in the morning, or the rising of the sun, or the rising of the, the rising of the morning star, these natural phenomena have hidden meanings, that need to be rehearsed, in order to be understood that need to be sort of unpacked, to use a modern term, in order to be so that the treasure can be can be revealed. And to my reading, that's all of a piece, the way that he performs this catechesis isn't limited, say to scriptural exegesis or ritual exegesis. It extends even to kind of a natural exegesis. By that term. I just mean interpretation or exposition, way of teaching what's hidden
father Dunkel, you are a college teacher, you teach theology at Boston College, and I'm also a college teacher, it strikes me that many of our young people today have an imagination that's shaped by the constant symbols that we experience on the internet through pictorial media. I'm just curious, does Ambrose's mystagogy of nature help you configure your teaching of theology to a new generation that is constantly aware of a new symbol set in our culture?
So I think it does, at least it's often in the backdrop or in the background of my teaching, or in my understanding of what of how they think. And I would probably hesitate to say that they have a kind of symbolic imagination. Often it's a rather reductive at, I don't mean that in a negative sense, but rather sort of instant imagination where what you see is what you get now what you see is exploded much more widely than anything you would have found in in Ambrose's time. So you're bombarded by images in a way that it stamps you. And yet, because you're bombarded by just an endless sequence of images, and sounds and stimuli, you tend not to look for what's behind sounds, or images or stimuli. And I think that that's a major difference, you know, do use a dramatic example, in Ambrose's time, say, the rising of the sun was a major, major moment because you went from Well, when that when there was no mood in the sky, total pitch black to being able to see. So it had this dramatic effect. And it could symbolize something much deeper say, coming from the darkness of sin, into the light of grace. When we're surrounded by artificial lights, and stimuli that mean We don't have to, say put up with what nature gives us. It's it takes a new sort of sensitivity to move beyond it. Because you're habituated to think, well, I can move beyond it on my own. And so I think that's one of the challenges to be maybe it's too strict stripped down in order to kind of show what's foundational, rather than to say, well look to more and more images to get to what's foundational, you see what i'm saying or suggesting?
That's absolutely fascinating. Thank you for sharing that reflection. Father dunkel, what is the legacy of Ambrose's hymns. How did Ambrose's hymns influenced the later Christian musical tradition, please,
foremost, by the very form he used, he basically invented there are some precedents but he really invented us him form of eight stands is a very singable flexible, but accessible form of seeing that was different from a lot of the high or complicated poetry that predated him. And so that form took off in even in his lifetime. Other bishops, other sort of hymn writers were copying it. And that's one of those challenges because those were written even within his lifetime. Hence, we sometimes think, oh, are those Ambrose's? So there's an immediate spread of the form itself. And that spread, I mean, that that form, basically a four, four, it's called an ionic Demeter exists even in familiar hymns today that are in English, there are many translations of Ambrose's hymns that still circulate in contemporary worship, more or indirectly, I think, though, his methods also affected the kind of hymns that you find in subsequent generations, a realization that the, that worship can have this effect of kind of changing your mindset, or bringing about what I call a sensitization, you know, a sensitivity to what's beyond the merely sensible. And so you find both his vocabulary, but also his methods influencing, say the hymns of the next generations, these are names that won't be familiar to modern readers, and a lot of them are anonymous, but they are very influential in the Middle Ages, and then into the early modern period, reformation, hymn writers, even Luther have their own versions of these hymns. So in that way, both directly and indirectly, they really shape what we think at worship father dunkel. Thank you very much.
How did the Ambrose's hymns perhaps shaped particularly the doctrine of ecclesiology? Do Ambrose's hymns really shape the way that people think about the church specifically,
there are about three types of hymns for different occasions. Some are what are called dominical, because they're about the Lord Jesus Christ, and they're fit for his great feast days. epiphany, Christmas, in Easter, these hymns have distinctively christological obviously residences, there are other hymns that are more about the hours of the day. So the the the moment when the morning star rises, and the roosters begin to call out, also the third hour of the day when Christ is brought to the cross. So these hymns have a different role in the daily worship. And finally, there are hymns that are written for saints and for martyrs. And these hymns, I think, are the prime locus for specific references, say to church identity. However, the hymns for the hours of the day accomplish this indirectly, because they bring about basically a common recognition of the different transitions of the day, you know, so the evening hour, let us all gather as one and see the rest that the Lord is giving us. And so, indirectly, we're all sort of looking for the same, let's say, affective or emotional experience. When it comes to the hymns for the great saints, however, often, Ambrose tries to bring about a kind of unity of location, and, and identity in writing these hymns. So he sings these martyrs who were originally from North Africa, who were in the Roman army, but then because they refuse to offer sacrifice to false gods were eventually martyred. And when Ambrose sings of them, he makes them even though they're from a very foreign part of the world, he makes them part of the church in Milan. So I think it accomplishes a certain extent. pensive and universal vision to the self identification of the singer. You see, I am not just a Christian in Ambrose's, Milan with our own set of practices, but I am in union with these Christians in North Africa, and in particular with Ambrose both in his other writings and in his hymns. I'm a Christian with the Christians in Rome. So you see references, both explicit and somewhat implicit there. In many of his hymns about for instance, for Agnes, this is prominent in for Peter and Paul
Father Dunkel, many of us know, Ambrose of Milan, really only as the mentor to a Gustin of Hippo, who's often considered one of the greatest of the Western theologians. How would you characterize this relationship between a Gustin and Ambrose? Did they know each other? Well, do we know how many times they may have met in person? etc?
Great question. Yes, Ambrose, we know that they did meet in person because it especially because a Gustin reflects on this link in his, let's call it auto biography, the confessions. And it seems from Augustine's account that Ambrose was already a kind of celebrity Bishop, and therefore a bit distant. A gustad was thinking about the faith thinking about baptism, but he had that yet they made the decision to do so. And Ambrose was very important in helping them get past some final hurdles to taking that step. Ambrose helped him to see a more of a deeper meaning to the Scriptures, that for a long period in his life, he thought were sort of crude and not sophisticated. And so it was, Ambrose didn't make them sound sophisticated, but he made them sound, let's say, mysterious, in the sense that I referred to earlier. So there was a richness that he began to appreciate. He also refers specifically to the hymns a number of times. And he does so both by recounting how they helped galvanize help, sort of activate the church of Milan in opposition to arion rivals. So a group of worshipers associated with the Emperor's giustina in Rome, wanted to take over a Basilica in Milan, and Ambrose use the hymns This is what a gust there were accounts to keep the people sort of energized in the face of the opposition, maybe like a sit in. But he also refers to the texts as being theologically significant, especially in some of his earlier works. And he'll use them often because he thinks they distill. And they simplify a very important Christian insight that would otherwise be overlooked or under appreciated. So at the end of some long dialogue, in one of his real early works, almost you can almost detect a little bit of exasperation from her part, but Monica his mother, or Augustus, brother Monica has or we could just, I'm paraphrasing here, St. Ambrose is him. You know, let's all pray to the Trinity or be good to us Trinity. So there's a kind of an effective work that that a Gustin sees Ambrose and Sam's doing quite well.
Father Dunkel, if I may close with a question that we've been asking all of the interviewees on this program, and that is this, what would it mean for the church to be united today? Can you help us envision what a united or re United Church might look like? How would we recognize the unity of the church? And what is it that we can do as individual Christians to pursue the Unity for which Jesus prayed in john 17?
A big question is, you know, and one that would take much more time to really flesh out. But I would say turning the Ambrose say that a prime locus, or maybe the foundation of this union, unity is going to have to be a unity of worship, that when we are praying, with a shared understanding of what we're praying about, to the one Trinity, Father, Son, and spirit, were then able to celebrate the same mysteries, the same sacraments of the Father, Son, and spirit that, in turn, bind us into one. And I think these emotional effective sensitizing ways can help help bring us about, say, sharing a common reading of Scripture and a common vision of nature even. And that can be promoted through common song common worship. But I would simply defer to Ambrose and say, we need to be singing the same songs in the broadest sense in order to be offering the same praise in order to be sanctified by the same God.
It's been our huge privilege today to be speaking with Father Brian dunkel, Assistant Professor of historical theology at Boston College, and the author of the text that we've been discussing today enchantment and creed in the hymns of Ambrose of Milan, available from Oxford University Press. Father Duncan, thank you so much for your reflections today. Thanks very much.