Biography

Simon Danner studied theology in Göttingen, Berlin and Rome. From 2014 to 2015 he worked as a research assistant at the Chair of Ancient Christianity of the Faculty of Theology of the Humboldt-University of Berlin. From 2015 to 2017 he worked in the project "Knowledge transfer in the ancient Christian apocrypha" of the Collaborative Research Center 980 "Epistems in Motion". Between 2017 and 2019 he completed his vicariate in the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia.

Project Abstract

Playing the trumpet after the beat – σάλπιγξι ῥυθμοὺς σαλπίζειν. In this phrase, it becomes clear how tones and signals serve to structure time. In the Apocalypse of John, the seven angels who play the seven trumpets are among the elements that give structure to the visions. Each trumpet signal is followed by an event. In his Apocalypse Commentary Beatus of Liébana uses these signals to structure his commentary. In the tripartite scheme of the commentary (historia, pictura, explanatio), the miniatures illustrate signals that give structure to John's visions. The angels with the trumpets are illustrated in miniatures, they divide the text, create clarity and orientation. Signals that set the pace of time are now also signals that structure a text, provide orientation for the reader and portion the reading.

In addition to the angels with the trumpets, the miniatures of the angels of the churches and the angels with the bowls also have this text structuring function. The Commentary of the Beatus is a compilation. As in a Cento, parts of other texts are quoted, adopted and inserted into a new context. In this patchwork, different layers of time are also rearranged. For example, the keyword dominica dies, on which John received his visions on Patmos, is an occasion for Beatus to bring certain events in the history of salvation into his own system. He combines text pieces from other authors in such a way that this Lord's Day on Patmos is related to the first day of creation, the day of the resurrection, the day on which God spoke to Moses on Sinai, Pentecost and the rapture of Paul.

The different time layers in the text and the time structure of the miniatures in one of the manuscripts of the Apocalypse Commentary of Beatus, the Escorial Beatus (Biblioteca del Monasterio de El Escorial, &. II.5) with an early text and iconographic tradition is the object of my research.

Curriculum vitae

2017-2019 

Vicariate at the Protestant Church

2015–2017 

Research Assistant in the project "Knowledge transfer in the ancient Christian apocrypha" of the Collaborative Research Center 980 "Epistems in Motion"

2014–2015 

Research Assistant at the Chair of Ancient Christianity of the Faculty of Theology of the Humboldt-University of Berlin

Selected Publications

2023. Der Apokalypsekommentar des Beatus von Liébana. Regensburg: Schnell und Steiner. 

2016. Editor (with Emiliano Fiori, Christoph Markschies and Stefanie Rabe) for Theme Issue "Die antiken christlichen Apokalypsen in den antiken christlichen Apokryphen". Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum / Journal of Ancient Christianity 20(1).