Observations sur la prédication d’Eckhart

Abstract

There are around 100 Latin and 120 Middle High German sermons within the eckhartian corpus, as we know it today. Scholars have situated the majority of the German sermons within the last decade of Eckhart’s life. However, his interest for preaching is expressed in his work from the very beginning, and continues to infuse his whole career. What distinguishes his homiletic work from that of masters in theology, his peers, seems indeed to be his use of the vernacular and the attention given to literary form and to the publication of his sermons. Thus raising the question: why such an interest in the vernacular tongue?Therefore, the primary focus of our analysis are the German sermons, and in this regard we will address two arguments that appear especially meaningful. The first deals with the need for a liturgical recontextualization. Indeed, the liturgical aspect has been entirely overlooked in the critical edition and in literature. The second manifests itself through the necessity to explore the literary features of the sermons, that are not, in fact, “reported” by audience members, but have been carefully written and published by the author himself. Finally, a noteworthy characteristic of the eckhartian homiletic is the essential link between locutio emphatica and the demonstrative discourse (« natiurliche rede »): our close study of a few excerpts from Eckhart’s Defense (1326) shall attempt to shed some light on this concept.