Abstract
This article argues that the polarised relationships between the apostles and their pagan hosts, or perhaps Christian and `Other', described in the apocryphal acts of the apostles warrant detailed examination. Contrary to the assumption that the apostles battled against one-dimensional, poorly characterised adversaries, the paper demonstrates that complex symbolism and imagery lay behind their representations.
My analysis is confined to Ælfric's translations of the apocryphal acts of Matthew and Simon and Jude as they appear in Catholic Homilies II. These legends describe how the apostles face a common pair of adversaries, Ethiopian magicians called Zaroes and Arfaxath, in the `exotic' locations of Ethiopia and Persia. Drawing upon Said's literary and historical theory of the exotic `Other', as well as anthropological, geographical and sociological theories of `otherness', my discussion highlights the main methods by which the binary-opposition of the Christian apostles and their pagan antagonists is achieved.
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Kilburn, J.A. The Contrasted `Other' in the Old English Apocryphal Acts of Matthew, Simon and Jude. Neophilologus 87, 137–151 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021288509197
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021288509197