Spiritual Ways, Spiritual Faculties

Abstract

This article investigates meditations (both Catholic and Protestant) that are considered relevant textual representations of the devotional culture in the Early Modern Age. Studying the reception and use of patristic and mediaeval texts of devotional character in the early modern period, the article states that a close connection may be observed between early modern devotional culture on the one hand, and the patristic and mediaeval tradition on the other. Through analysis of the sources, the researcher can observe that the breach between the mediaeval church and the churches of the Reformation is much less abrupt and definitive than is often assumed. Particularly, the devotio moderna forms an important bridge between the Middle Ages and the later Baroque age.