The Biblical Text in South Slavic Literatures from the Middle Ages to the Present Day (Functions, Reception, Interpretation)

  • Project Status
    Ended
  • Execution period
    2015г. — 2018г.
  • Project lead Prof. Ana Stoykova, D.Sc.
  • Financing
    Еквивалентна безвалутна размяна

Research Team: Prof. Anisava Miltenova, Assoc. Prof. Nina Georgieva-Gagova, Assoc. Prof. Maya Petrova-Taneva, Assoc. Prof. Radostina Stankova, Senior Asst. Prof. Irina Kuzidova-Karadzhinova



The project aims to explore from an interdisciplinary point of view (philology, theology and cultural history) the influence that the Bible has on the emergence and development of South Slavic literature during the various stages of their existence. During the Middle Ages, biblical texts were present in both liturgical and non-liturgical texts as a model of genre forms, styles, images and played a major role in medieval aesthetics and in the field of ideas. Later, this concept, embodied in the struggle for Slavic worship and acquired a religious and political character, is reflected in the national mythologies that emerged in the Renaissance. In modern times, these mythologies have influenced local preferences for certain religious beliefs specific to the region, or have become adaptations of European trends. The approach to this issue through the prism of the Bible creates new research perspectives regarding the cultural phenomena of the European Southeast, and the work on the project combines the modern achievements of medieval studies and modern Slavic studies.

As part of the project, an International Scientific Conference was held in Sofia in October 2014, attended by 27 scientists from six countries (Poland, Bulgaria, Germany, Slovenia, Italy and Denmark). Unknown sources and new interpretations of literary phenomena, born and developing entirely under the sign of Christianity, whose main sacred text is the biblical corpus, were presented. The conference proceedings were published in the Polish specialized publication Slavia Meridionalis 16 (2016).



Publications:

  • The Biblical Text in South Slavic Literatures from the Middle Ages to the New Age. Warsaw, 2016 (Slavia Meridionalis, vol. 16). 633 pp. ISSN: 2392-2400