Bibliography

Conor
O'Brien

6 publications between 1994 and 2021 indexed
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2021

article
OʼBrien, Conor, “Political thought in early Irish exegesis”, Peritia 32 (2021): 197–212.  
abstract:

The two earliest Latin commentaries on the Catholic Epistles probably come from seventh-century southern Ireland and both suggest that christians only owe obedience to kings who actively punish the wicked and praise the good. This may reflect an ideology of punitive christian kingship which seems particularly prominent in Munster during the second half of the seventh century.

abstract:

The two earliest Latin commentaries on the Catholic Epistles probably come from seventh-century southern Ireland and both suggest that christians only owe obedience to kings who actively punish the wicked and praise the good. This may reflect an ideology of punitive christian kingship which seems particularly prominent in Munster during the second half of the seventh century.

2015

article
OʼBrien, Conor, “The cleansing of the temple in early medieval Northumbria”, Anglo-Saxon England 44 (2015): 201–220.  
abstract:
While the attitudes of Stephen of Ripon and Bede toward church-buildings have previously been contrasted, this paper argues that both shared a vision of the church as a holy place, analogous to the Jewish temple and to be kept pure from the mundane world. Their similarity of approach suggests that this concept of the church-building was widespread amongst the Northumbrian monastic elite and may partially reflect the attitudes of the laity also. The idea of the church as the place of eucharistic sacrifice probably lay at the heart of this theology of sacred place. Irish ideas about monastic holiness, traditional liturgical language and the native fascination with building in stone combined with an interest in ritual purity to give power to this use of the temple-image which went on to influence later Carolingian attitudes to churches.
abstract:
While the attitudes of Stephen of Ripon and Bede toward church-buildings have previously been contrasted, this paper argues that both shared a vision of the church as a holy place, analogous to the Jewish temple and to be kept pure from the mundane world. Their similarity of approach suggests that this concept of the church-building was widespread amongst the Northumbrian monastic elite and may partially reflect the attitudes of the laity also. The idea of the church as the place of eucharistic sacrifice probably lay at the heart of this theology of sacred place. Irish ideas about monastic holiness, traditional liturgical language and the native fascination with building in stone combined with an interest in ritual purity to give power to this use of the temple-image which went on to influence later Carolingian attitudes to churches.

2014

article
OʼBrien, Conor, “Exegesis as argument: the use of Ephesians 2,14 in Cummian’s De controversia Paschali”, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 67 (Summer, 2014): 73–81.

2003

article
OʼBrien, Conor, “The goldsmiths of Waterford”, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 133 (2003): 111–129.

1998

edited work
OʼBrien, Conor (ed.), Feagh McHugh O’Byrne: the Wicklow Firebrand. A volume of quatercentennial essays, Rathdrum: Rathdrum Historical Society, 1998.

1994

article
OʼBrien, Conor, “The Byrnes of Ballymanus”, in: Ken Hannigan, and William Nolan (eds), Wicklow, history & society: interdisciplinary essays on the history of an Irish county, 7, Dublin: Geography Publications, 1994. 305–339.