Old English Ecotheology

Courtney Catherine Barajas is Assistant Professor of English and Director of Medieval and Modern Studies at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington.

Introduction: Early Medieval Earth Consciousness
Ælfric, Wulfstan, and the Exeter Book
Chapter Summaries
Chapter I: Old English Ecotheology
Medieval and Modern Ecotheology
Conclusions
Chapter II: The Web of Creation in Wisdom Poems
Gnome(ish) Wisdom in Old English Poetry
“The Web of Mysteries”: Poetic Entanglement in The Order of the World
Mapping Kinship Connections in Maxims I
Conclusions
Chapter III: Identity, Affirmation, and Resistance in the Exeter Riddle Collection
Ambiguous Interpretation in the Exeter Riddle Collection
Birds’-Eye View: Riddle 6 and Riddle 7
Heroic Horns and Wounded Wood: Riddles of Transformation
Conclusions
Chapter IV: Trauma and Apocalypse in the Eco-Elegies
Environmental Trauma and Natural Depression in The Wanderer
Apocalypse / Now: The Ruin
Conclusions
Chapter V: Mutual Custodianship in the Landscapes of Gu.lac A
Home, Alone: Gu.lac in the Wilderness
Lessons in Early Medieval English Environmentalism
Conclusions
Coda: Old English Ecotheology
Bibliography
Index