Introduction: Learning and Spirituality
- "Prescholastic" and Monastic Literature
- Peter Lombard's Prologue on St Paul
- Prologue of St Bernard to his Sermons on the Canticle of Canticles
- Literature and Eternal Life
https://rationemspe.blogspot.com/2024/05/monastic-learning.html
page 2
2a-b discussion of practice of quaestio of sacra pagina as essence of scholasticism -- not tenets of Aristotle, etc.
2c monastic approach distinctive -- personal, through spiritual father, through reading Scripture and Fathers, through liturgical structure to lives. "Contemplative" (not discursive)
page 3
3a leave to disputations -- Godfrey of St Victor
3b monastic and scholastic approaches complementary, not dichotomous, epitomized by friendship of Peter Lombard and St Bernard
3c Lombard's commentary on Pauline Epistles
3d The aim is to acquire knowledge, the method is inquiry
page 4
4a it is treated objectively -- look at what is said by preceding authors (ancients), deal with problems of authenticity, dating, situation, form.
4b St Bernard of Clairvaux commentary on Canticle. "my brothers" -- personal. Contemplative. Theology of asceticism and commitment
https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/gems-of-wisdom-from-st-bernard-of-clairvaux/
Pope Benedict XVI points to Bernard’s example as a warning to all theologians, scholars, and teachers against a dry and academic faith that is divorced from a deep and prayerful relationship with God: “Bernard reminds us that without a profound faith in God, nourished by prayer and contemplation by an intimate relationship with the Lord, our reflections on the divine mysteries risk becoming an empty intellectual exercise and losing their credibility…Together with Bernard of Clairvaux, we too must recognize that humans seek God better and find him more easily in prayer than in discussion. In the end, the truest figure of a theologian and of every evangelizer remains the Apostle John who laid his head on the Teacher’s breast” (General Audience, October 21, 2009).
page 5
poetic imagery -- it is God who is teaching -- quest, investigare, inquirendi
allicit -- joy, sweetness
desiratur not quaeritus
experiendum, not sciendum
Beautiful language, literary form is that of sermon
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sermon_of_Saint_Anthony_to_the_Fish
The structure of the Sermon follows the Ciceronian tradition: an introduction presenting the theme (exordium) ending in an invocation to the Virgin Mary as the Domina maris; the main body of the sermon, allegorical in nature, wherein are Vieira's arguments and counterarguments (narratio and confirmatio); and the conclusion (peroratio).
The theme of the Sermon comes from the Gospel of Matthew: "Vos estis sal terræ" (Matt. 5:13). After the theme exposition, Vieira's discourse has its development divided into two parts: praise for the fishes' virtues and reprehension for their vices.
page 6
6a exordium, development, conclusion
6b two elements in monastic theology -- found generally, seem opposed
--literary character (grammatica)
--mystical orientation
characteristic, but difficult to sum up in a few words
6c Theology, spirituality and cultural history were not separated in the monastic life.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholasticism
https://www.msaviour.org/2010/mon_sch.htm
https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2006/10/scholasticism-liturgy-and-monasticism.html
Conversely, to cut off scholasticism from the lived experience of the liturgy, with its rich treasures drawn from the Bible and the Fathers, is to begin the inevitable shriveling up of scholasticism into the dry and impoverished system that could only alienate -- and did alienate -- people from the fullness of Catholic teaching. Without a liturgical environment, scholasticism faces the prospect of aridity. I could even adduce a theological reason to this: the liturgy is the primary and privileged expression of the magisterium, the most authentic exposition of the mind of the Church. Without it, no system, no school of thought could claim to transmit the fullness of Catholic teaching.
No comments:
Post a Comment