Meditating Death in Medieval and Early Modern Devotional Writing: From Bonaventure to Luther by Mark Chinca

Abstract

Reviewed by: Meditating Death in Medieval and Early Modern Devotional Writing: From Bonaventure to Luther by Mark Chinca Aaron Klink Meditating Death in Medieval and Early Modern Devotional Writing: From Bonaventure to Luther. By Mark Chinca. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. 299 pp. Chinca explores the practice of Christian meditation on death from the early medieval to Reformation eras. That chronological frame, and inclusion of both Roman Catholic and Protestant texts allows him to chart the transformation of these practices from monasticism to the Protestant Reformation. Benedict's Rule, western monasticism's foundational text, urged monks to keep their own death at the forefront of their minds. Bonaventure's guidance for meditations on death prompting monks to undertake elaborate visualizations is Chinca's choice of a representative of the literature used within the context of monastic liturgy and prayer. Bonaventure was committed to an illuminationist epistemology that argues that the Holy Spirit imparts certain theological truth to the mind. However, Chinca does not explore how that belief shaped Bonaventure's texts. This is unfortunate, since the book argues that more than textual analysis is involved in formation. The book next considers the thirteenth-century Somme le Roi prepared by Dominican Friar Laurent for the King of France, highlighting the role of textual illumination. Chinca never argues that this text is representative or unique, leaving the reader to wonder if a different selection of texts would tell a different story of the development of the meditation tradition. Laurent's compilation does show how the practice of meditation on death moved from the monastic setting to a non-monastic one. The next chapter treats a text by the thirteenth-century Dutch author Gert Grote, an author the book names as the founder of the Devotio Moderna, despite the movement's diverse roots. Saying it explores how ordinary Christians were urged to practice meditation on death, the chapter treats five different texts, all of Dutch origin. Chinca argues that the texts share a common assumption that the repetitive reading of biblical texts and envisioning oneself within them is spiritually formative. However, while this chapter claims to be about the meditation on death in the Devotio Moderna, Chinca notes that some texts under consideration were written by [End Page 98] individuals who did not associate with the movement, making it difficult to ascertain the focus of the chapter. It is also unclear why only Dutch texts are considered. The final chapter treats Lutheran teachings about meditation on death. However, Chinca makes the odd decision to begin with a text written by Lutheran pastor Thomas Thanholtzner in 1577. He never treats Luther's actual texts on the preparation for death. He argues, unpersuasively, that Luther did not provide guidance for Christians to meditate or deal with death, then immediately treats the Lutheran practices of "collecting many choice, foundational, and clear verses from the Old and New Testaments to hear them and enclose them in your heart" (208). He argues that Lutherans inscribed scripture on paper, metal, or wood to have in their homes. However, he still argues that this practice was not "allied to a concomitant process of reforming the inner person" (236). This claim is inaccurate since Luther believed that one was granted a free and merry spirit by trust in the gospel. Luther, contrary to Chinca's claims, was not opposed to spiritual practices. He urged Christians to undertake prayer, scripture reading, and the reception of the sacraments to strengthen their trust in the gospel, even as he maintained that these practices did not earn one salvation before God. In addition, the book makes the untrue claim that Luther viewed dying as a "special 'time of grace,' an opportunity to hear and trust the Gospel's message of salvation through faith in God's grace, without any contribution from any human deeds or efforts" (155). That claim makes one's hearing of the gospel dependent on one's life state, not the Holy Spirit, an argument Luther would reject. Chinca's cross-tradition comparisons fail to be compelling because he never provides a clear and robust definition of what he considers to be a spiritual practice. He also does not exhibit familiarity with...