Inventio meditativa
The Rhetoric and Hermeneutics of Meditation in Hugh of Saint-Victor, Guigo II, and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio
By (author) Rafael Simian
A new conceptual framework for late-medieval meditation and the Christian religion in the works of Hugh of Saint-Victor, Guigo II, and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio.
The present volume develops a new conceptual perspective on late-medieval meditation, particularly in Hugh of Saint-Victor, Guigo II, and Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. For the most part, modern commentaries on the subject have relegated rhetoric to the margins of attention, if not to complete silence. In contrast, this book contends that these writers arrived at their distinctive conceptions of meditation by drawing from the Ciceronian rhetorical tradition. They did so by deepening earlier rhetorical treatments of inventio while adapting them to the Christian life. The examination of this topic is divided into three principal and related aspects. First, meditation is studied as a rhetorical notion for a specific kind of mnemonic, rational, and affective exercise. Second, that notion is used to shed light on meditation as a compositional textual practice whose outcomes bear striking analogy to what Umberto Eco called the ‘open works’ of the Western avant-garde. Finally, meditation emerges as a form of literary reception required for approaching and construing certain works. In exploring each of these aspects, the study shows that rhetoric radically informs, not only Hugh’s, Guigo’s, and Bonaventure’s engagement with meditation, but also their views on salvation history, monastic life, divine revelation, scientific learning, and biblical hermeneutics. Thus, despite the omission or relative insignificance of the ars bene dicendi in most modern investigations, it is argued that rhetoric lies at the core of these authors’ entire religious outlook. In this way, the present volume aims to contribute to a better understanding of these medieval figures by filling an important gap in the scholarly literature.
- By (author) Rafael Simian
Other Titles in this Series
Bonds and Boundaries among the Early Churches
Community Maintenance in the Letter of James and the Didache
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The Discovery of the Individual
Post-Chalcedonian Christological Debates and the Dawn of Scholasticism in Early-Byzantine Thought
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Late Antique Calendrical Thought and its Reception in the Early Middle Ages
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Ephrem, a ‘Jewish’ Sage
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The Anthropology of St Gregory Palamas
The Image of God, the Spiritual Senses, and the Human Body
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From Topography to Text
The Image of Jerusalem in the Writings of Eucherius, Adomnan and Bede
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Early Medieval Ireland and Europe: Chronology, Contacts, Scholarship
Festschrift for Daibhi O Croinin
Volume 14
Tabernacle, Table, Ark, and Text
Richard of Saint Victor on the Interpretation of Scripture
Volume 67
Meditations of the Heart: The Psalms in Early Christian Thought and Practice
Essays in Honour of Andrew Louth
Volume 8
‘Vigilemus et Oremus’
The Theological Significance of 'Keeping Vigil' in Rome from the Fourth to the Eighth Centuries
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Cyril of Alexandria’s Christological Exegesis
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The Easter Controversy of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Its Manuscripts, Texts, and Tables
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My God, my God why have you abandoned me
The experience of God's withdrawal in late antique exegesis, Christology and ascetic literature
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Analogical Identities
The Creation of the Christian Self: Volume 2: Self-catholicization, Meta-narcissism, and Christian Theology
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