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
Removing Masculine Layers to Reveal a Holy Womanhood
The Female Transvestite Monks of Late Antique Eastern Christianity
Volume 13
Saints and Sinners in Early Christian Ireland
Moral Theology in the Lives of Saints Brigit and Columba
Volume 3
The Spirit, the World and the Trinity
Origen's and Augustine's Understanding of the Gospel of John
Volume 40
‘The loss of a minute is just so much loss of life’
Edward Robinson and Eli Smith in the Holy Land
Volume 39
Healing not Punishment. Penitentials in the Insular Church
Historical and Pastoral Networking of the Penitentials between the Sixth and the Eighth Centuries
Volume 25
Agents in Liturgy, Charity and Communication
The Tasks of Female Deacons in the Apostolic Constitutions
Volume 37
Computus and its Cultural Context in the Latin West, AD 300-1200
Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on the Science of Computus in Ireland and Europe, Galway, 14-16 July, 2006
Volume 5
The Christology of Theodore of Tarsus
The Laterculus Malalianus and the Person and Work of Christ
Volume 6
‘Lest She Pollute the Sanctuary’
The Influence of the Protevangelium Iacobi on Women's Status in Christianity
Volume 41
Bonds and Boundaries among the Early Churches
Community Maintenance in the Letter of James and the Didache
Volume 29
Late Antique Calendrical Thought and its Reception in the Early Middle Ages
Proceedings from the Third International Conference on the Science of Computus in Ireland and Europe, Galway, 16-18 July, 2010
Volume 26
The Discovery of the Individual
Post-Chalcedonian Christological Debates and the Dawn of Scholasticism in Early-Byzantine Thought
Volume 68
Ephrem, a ‘Jewish’ Sage
A Comparison of the Exegetical Writings of St. Ephrem the Syrian and Jewish Traditions
Volume 7
The Anthropology of St Gregory Palamas
The Image of God, the Spiritual Senses, and the Human Body
Volume 38
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