評論
打印
Patrick understood that the monastic ideal of retreat was perfectly matched with the needs of local royal clans.
帕特里克明白 宗教退避的思想 與當地部落首領的需求完美契合
So monasteries like Arran, off the gull-swept Irish coast,with their beehive cells and encircling stone walls,
因此阿藍島式的修道院遍布愛爾蘭海岸 并配以蜂窩樣的小屋及環繞壘砌的石墻
looked like a stronghold, an encampment for God.
猶如一個基督教大本營
But what about the dragon slayers on the mainland?Who converted them?
而大陸之上的屠龍者呢 又是誰改變了他們的信仰
One man gives us the answer.
有一個人給了我們答案
To all schoolchildren of my generation,growing up in the 1950s,he will always be the Venerable Bede.
對于我們這一代 成長于50年代的小學生來說 能給出答案的只能是 可敬的比德
Bede was not just the founding father of English history.
比德不僅推動了英格蘭歷史發展的進程
Arguably, he was the first consummate storyteller in all of English literature.
并可以說 在所有文獻中 他是完整記述歷史的第一人
He was not exactly well travelled.He spent virtually his entire life here in Jarrow.
他其實并未游歷過許多地方 幾乎一生都在賈羅度過
But in a few luminous lines he could conjure up not just the world of holy men and hermits
但只需一點線索 他的腦海中便能顯現 不光是圣人與隱士
but the world of the great timbered halls of Saxon kings,with their firelight and roasting meat,or the death throes of a great war-horse.
還有撒克遜國王雄偉的會客大堂之上 篝火通明的宴會 以及英勇的戰馬死前的悲鳴
It was this masterful grip on narrative that made Bede not just an authentic historian
便是憑著如此嫻熟嚴謹的敘事手法 讓比德成為了一個可信的歷史學家
but also a brilliant propagandist for the early church.
和一位早期教會偉大的傳播者
