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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture I think Job was, apart from Gregory's Moralia, not all that much commented on ... Frans van Liere History Department, Calvin College 1845 Knollcrest Circle SE Grand Rapids MI 49546 >>> Dr Jim Bugslag 03/18/11 8:34 PM >>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture Dear Frans, This is fascinating. Thanks for your translation. Do you know of a recent analysis of the exegesis of Job? Cheers, Jim On 17/03/2011 12:23 PM, Frans van Liere wrote: > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > Meg, You you rpobably thinking of more practical example, such as the fourfold > sense of the story of Job, exemplified in Hugh's De scripturis et scriptoribus > sacris, ch. 3: (mytranslation, from PL 176) > > We give here one example of this threefold understanding. There was a man in > the land of Us, named Job, who first was rich, but came to such misery that, > sitting in the dung heap, he scratched even his healthy body with a potsherd. > The historical sense is clear. Now we come to the allegory, in which we > consider by the things that are signified by these words other things to be > signified, and by one fact another fact. Job, whose name means “mourning”, > signifies Christ, who first was coequal to the Father in the richess of his > glory, but descended to our misery, and sat humbled on the dung heap of this > world, sharing in all our defects for the sake of sin. Now we will ask what by > this fact is signified that must happen, or is worthy to be done. Job can stand > for whatever just or penitent soul, who in his memory makes up a dung heap out > of all the sins he has committed and, not for a short time but perseveringly, > sits on it and does not cease to weep while meditating on it. Those things that > happened according to the letter that signifiy such spiritual things are called > “sacraments”. > > > > Frans van Liere > History Department, Calvin College > 1845 Knollcrest Circle SE > Grand Rapids MI 49546 > >>>> James Ginther 3/16/2011 8:29 PM>>> > medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture > > Prof Brown makes an important point here: while the fourfold sense was > acknowledged throughout the Middle Ages, it was not employed uniformly. The > early medieval approach differed considerably from the scholastic approach. > I have worked more with the latter, and even then amongst the theologians > of the schools there are significant differences. The distich translated > here is often credited as coming from the pen of Augustine of Dacia (ca. > 1260), but Robert Grosseteste has his own formulation specifically for the > exegesis of the Psalms (and informed by the Tyconian Rules). The drawback > of the Cassian example is that it is just an example and not representative > of how the various senses were deployed in actual exegesis. For example, > while the tropological sense (sensus moralis) was certainly tied to what you > do (quid agas), theologians like Hugh of St-Cher spoke of it as "in persona > animae fidelis" and that often permitted him to discuss what we would call > aspects of philosophical psychology. Others, such as Grosseteste and > Bonaventure, spoke of allegory not as just what you believe, but > specifically about Christology and/or Ecclesiology. > > There is also the other issue of what exactly were the four senses. There > general agreement but some significant outliers (Augustine muddied the > waters by talking about an etiological sense--much to the chagrin of the > scholastic synthesizers), and Hugh of St-Victor only spoke of three senses. > > > So I would just suggest that the examples given may not completely present > the state of play for exegesis in a given time. > > If you are interested in later medieval exegesis, Christopher Ocker's book > on Biblical Poetics does a very nice job in delineating the complexity of > that period. And at the risk> entry on exegesis in my Westminster Handbook to Medieval Theology (partially > viewable on Google Books). > > Jim > > > On Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 7:08 PM, George Brown wrote: > >> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture >> >> Besides Cassian, Gregory the Great in the *Moralia in Job* and Bede in > *Deschematibus >> et tropis describe the fourfold formula. In my A Companion to Bede, p. 25, >> I have more on the theory of symbol applied to Christian salvific history >> where I also cite the medieval distich that served as a memory aid:* >> *Litera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria,* >> *Moralis quid agas, quo tendas anagogia.* >> *[The letter teaches event, allegory what you should believe./ Morality >> teaches what you should do, anagogy what mark you should be aiming at. * >> *And I refer to Henri de Lubac's Exégèse médiévale: le quatre sens de >> l'Écriture (one volume of which has been translated into English). * >> GHB >> >> On Mar 16, 2011, at 4:13 PM, Paul Chandler wrote: >> >> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture >> You're probably thinking of the famous passage in John Cassian's >> Conferences, 14.8.4: >> >> The four figures that have been mentioned converge in such a way that, if >>> we want, one and the same Jerusalem can be understood in a fourfold > manner. >>> According to history it is the city of the Jews. According to allegory it > is >>> the Church of Christ. According to anagogy it is that heavenly city of God >>> 'which is the mother of us all.' According to tropology it is the soul of >>> the human being, which under this name is frequently either reproached or >>> praised by the Lord. >>> >> (trans. Boniface Ramsey, ACW 57: 510) >> An older translation is here:< >> http://www.ccel.org/ccel/cassian/conferences.iii.v.viii.html> -- Paul >> >> >> >> On 17 March 2011 06:03, Cormack, Margaret Jean wrote: >> >>> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture >>> >>> Hi, >>> Can anyone give me a good example illustrating the four levels of >>> biblical interpretation? I had a website link which, foolishly, >>> I never copied onto a 'real' file - and so lost! I have an example using >>> 'light' from Thomas Aquinas, but recall seeing one >>> with Jerusalem - and am wondering if there is an example with the >>> sacrifice of Isaac as well? >>> Thanks in advance, >>> Meg >>> >> >> -- >> Paul Chandler, O.Carm. >> Holy Spirit Seminary | PO Box 18 (487 Earnshaw Road) | Banyo Qld 4014 >> | Australia >> office: (07) 3246 9888 | home: (07) 3246 9894 >> [log in to unmask] >> ********************************************************************** To >> join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: >> [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: >> [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: >> leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report >> problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: >> [log in to unmask] For further information, visit >> our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html >> >> >> Prof. Em. George Hardin Brown, FMAA, FSA >> Department of English, 450 Serra Mall >> Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-2087 >> Home: 451 Adobe Place, Palo Alto, CA 94306-4501 >> Phones: Mobile: 650-269-9898; Fax: 650-725-0755; Home: 650-852-1231 >> >> ********************************************************************** To >> join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: >> [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: >> [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: >> leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report >> problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: >> medieval-religion-r>> our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html >> > > ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html ********************************************************************** To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME to: [log in to unmask] To send a message to the list, address it to: [log in to unmask] To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion to: [log in to unmask] In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to: [log in to unmask] For further information, visit our web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html