Quasi aurora consurgens
The Victorine theological anthropology and its decline
By (author) C. Nemeth
The present work tries to set the Victorine theological anthropology in the context of doctrinal history. In the twelfth century, the canons of Saint-Victor formed the single largest community of theologians with the most extensive literary legacy. But is there a distinctive, characteristically Victorine model of theological anthropology? The first half of the present volume investigates this question through a close reading of the works of Hugh, Richard, Walter and Achard, and concludes with a positive answer. In a period of theological experimentation Hugh of Saint-Victor elaborated, through selectively reading and altering Patristic sources, his own model of theological anthropology. Its principles and concepts also appear in the spiritual works of other Victorine authors and set the Victorines apart from other spiritualities of the period. The second half of the work investigates the immediate, thirteenth-century reception of this model. That scholastic authors held Hugh and Richard in high regard is well-known, but a closer investigation reveals a different picture. The testimony of various theological sources (from Sentences glosses and commentaries, to spiritual works) shows that thirteenth-century theologians have already found elements of the Victorine anthropology either untenable or unintelligible,as their reaction varies from explicit rejection to selective reading and reinterpretation. This transition from acceptable and inspirative to problematic occurred in less than a century’s time, and still influences the way Victorine texts are read.Thus, considering a twelfth-century model, together with all of its necessary distortions, in thirteenth-century interpretations, may give us a better understanding of the limitations and potentials of the Victorine theology.
The present work tries to set the Victorine theological anthropology in the context of doctrinal history. In the twelfth century, the canons of Saint-Victor formed the single largest community of theologians with the most extensive literary legacy. But is there a distinctive, characteristically Victorine model of theological anthropology? The first half of the present volume investigates this question through a close reading of the works of Hugh, Richard, Walter and Achard, and concludes with a positive answer. In a period of theological experimentation Hugh of Saint-Victor elaborated, through selectively reading and altering Patristic sources, his own model of theological anthropology. Its principles and concepts also appear in the spiritual works of other Victorine authors and set the Victorines apart from other spiritualities of the period. The second half of the work investigates the immediate, thirteenth-century reception of this model. That scholastic authors held Hugh and Richard in high regard is well-known, but a closer investigation reveals a different picture. The testimony of various theological sources (from Sentences glosses and commentaries, to spiritual works) shows that thirteenth-century theologians have already found elements of the Victorine anthropology either untenable or unintelligible,as their reaction varies from explicit rejection to selective reading and reinterpretation. This transition from acceptable and inspirative to problematic occurred in less than a century’s time, and still influences the way Victorine texts are read.Thus, considering a twelfth-century model, together with all of its necessary distortions, in thirteenth-century interpretations, may give us a better understanding of the limitations and potentials of the Victorine theology.
- By (author) C. Nemeth
Other Titles in this Series
Chanoines reguliers et societes meridionales
L'abbaye de Saint-Ruf et ses prieures dans le sud-est de la France (XIe-XIVe siecle)
Volume 25
In Hebreo
The Victorine Commentaries on the Pentateuch and the Former Prophets in the Light of Its Northern-French Jewish Sources
Volume 26
Alain de Solminihac (1593-1659), prelat reformateur
De l'abbaye de Chancelade a l'eveche de Cahors
Volume 21
The Liturgy of the Canons regular of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem
A Study and a Catalogue of the Manuscript Sources
Volume 16
Les prieures de Saint-Victor de Paris (XIIe-premiere moitie du XVIe siecle)
Implantation et fonctionnement d'un reseau canonial entre Senlis et Orleans
Volume 30
Nichil melius, nichil perfectius caritate
Richard of St. Victor's Argument for the Necessity of the Trinity
Volume 31
Un platonisme original au XIIe siecle
Metaphysique pluraliste et theologie trinitaire dans le De unitate et pluralitate creaturarum d'Achard de Saint-Victor
Volume 28
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