Christology and Conspiracy: Boethius' Fall from Grace
| dc.contributor.author | Harris, Maxwell J. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2024-03-15T01:05:54Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2024-03-15T01:05:54Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024 | |
| dc.description.abstract | In 523 CE, the Roman philosopher and theologian Boethius was removed from the court of the Ostrogothic King Theoderic, arrested, and imprisoned on charges of conspiracy with the Eastern Roman Empire. Awaiting execution, he composed the influential Consolation of Philosophy, in which he provides an autobiographical account of his own downfall. My research project challenges the position, dominant amongst modern scholarship, that Boethius’ claim to innocence is credible. I argue, on the contrary, that the historical and textual evidence renders Boethius’ guilt of conspiracy the best explanation of his downfall, and that his motivation for pursuing such ends was rooted in his commitment to Christian orthodoxy. I ground my investigation in the ecclesiastical landscape of the period, contextualizing Boethius’ theological tractates with the Christological controversy surrounding the Acacian Schism (484-519 CE), in order to establish his commitment to an ecclesial and political reunification of East and West. I demonstrate that this commitment found an opportunity for action with the ending of schism and the accession of Justin I, after which I offer a speculative, textually based reconstruction of the events leading to his downfall, implicating Boethius and his associates in a theologically inspired conspiracy against the Ostrogothic regime. | |
| dc.description.reviewstatus | Reviewed | |
| dc.description.scholarlevel | Undergraduate | |
| dc.description.sponsorship | Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Awards (JCURA) | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1828/16090 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | University of Victoria | |
| dc.subject | Boethius | |
| dc.subject | Christology | |
| dc.subject | Acacian Schism | |
| dc.subject | Roman history | |
| dc.subject | ostrogothic Italy | |
| dc.subject | late antiquity | |
| dc.title | Christology and Conspiracy: Boethius' Fall from Grace | |
| dc.type | Poster |