Albrecht Classen, Wisdom from the European Middle Ages: Literary and Didactic Perspectives: A Study, Anthology, and Commentary. Berlin: Peter Lang, 2022, 389 pp.

Abstract

Abstract Those who ignore history are bound to repeat it, though those who study it do so for the same reason. Professor Classen opens his anthology on premodern wisdom liter­ature with these two tones, the one threatening, rightly warning us of the dangers of failing to learn from past mistakes, the other inviting an understanding of history – as much of it as we can – for doing so “makes it possible to comprehend the reasons for our actions in the present, which then lays the foundation for future-oriented endeavors” (14). The author thus orients his collection of wisdom literature from the European Middle Ages – several translated by the author himself – for readers to consider less as a bunch of artifacts and more a handbook for reflection and application going forward. One even suspects Professor Classen of applying the wisdom literature he’s digested over the decades, for his own sentences complement the sampled texts in their detachable, gnomic pronouncements on how to use past wisdom and why we should. Together, the texts and their editor’s commentaries make this an instructional book as much as an anthropological one. “The present book is not intended,” moreover, “as a gateway to the history of philosophy and theology,” but rather opens new conversations about – and with – the past (15).