An inquiry into the integration of literary and spiritual architectonics as a unifying narrative device in 'The Ecclesiastical History of the English People' of the Venerable Bede

Traditional discussions of Bede's Ecclesiastical History (EH) center on the work's spirituality or its value as a church or secular history. This study, however, considers the literary merits of the EH and finds that it integrates spiritual and literary architectonics into a coherent narrative. Bede employed structural techniques whose Aristotelian roots can be traced through the dominant influences he found in Scripture and the Church Fathers. That is, while EH is a Church history, it is unified through spiritual and literary architectonics, such as plot, characterization, conflict and suspense.; Moreover, while it is tempting to study the work in segments, this study maintains that it should be approached as a coherent entity just as the author intended.; Bede's writings can be classified as either the unambiguously spiritual works such as his exegetical texts, or his compositions that include the qualified secular. In this second collection are the writings that, while faithful to his intellectual and spiritual heritage, are more worldly in tone than the purely spiritual. For the sake of this discussion, EH is placed in this category.; The first two parts of this study examine some of the dominant influences in Bede's life that appear in his work and the third part treats their integration to make a unified literary entity. Part One considers the typical monastic curriculum and the resources available to Bede in the monastery's library. The second section discusses Bede's sources of information and presents pertinent information about several major figures who helped form Bede's style.; Part three is a detailed examination of the integration of the spiritual and the literary that resulted in a unified narrative. Included is a discussion of Bede's ancient and contemporary models and teachers, his narrative technique and his use of ecclesiastical Latin. The guiding hypothesis is that Bede directed all of his spiritual energy and skill as a writer toward maintaining the established tradition of the priest as religious leader and teacher. To do so, he carefully considered his audience, his narrative structure and the work's ultimate spiritual purpose.