Robert Grosseteste’s Cosmology of Light and Light-Metaphors: A Symbolic Model of Sacred Space?

Abstract

The study presents and connects ideas on light elaborated by Robert Grosseteste during consecutive periods of his intellectual activity as a master of Arts, as a master of theology and finally as a bishop. These periods encompass: first, his cosmology of light and the functions of light in the natural world; second, his theological use of light as a source of metaphors; and third, the symbolism of light. The analysis shows that the late writings by Grosseteste bypass his earlier conception of a “self-sufficient” cosmos forged by the power of light (presented in his De luce) and promote a vision of the universe (in the Hexaemeron) where light assumes a strong symbolic role in manifesting both God’s action within the cosmos and the structure of a hierarchically ordered universe. Ultimately, light symbolism supports a new idea of beauty, commonly labelled “aesthetics of light.” On this speculative background, the study argues that Grosseteste’s allegorical vision of cosmos and his many “light-metaphors” disseminated in his theological writings offer a reliable matrix for a possible investigation of his symbolic and “aesthetic” idea of sacred space, which might be related also, at least in theory, to Lincoln Cathedral.