1. Brother Eckhart, Reader of the Sentences in Paris On Apri118th 1294, during the Easter Festival, a young academic got up to preach in the Church of 51. Jacques in Paris. The sennon which he gave was taken down in writing by a scribe in the congregation, and a copy made its way-a few years later-to the monastery of Kremsmiinster, where it is still to be found today. This text is exceptional for the piety, scholarship and rhetorical skills which it displays. The original color rhetoricus can be heard in many places and the author shows an impressive command of his sources in the many citations h~ gives from the Bible and the works of the Fathers, particularly Augustine. Nowadays, of course, a talk would be structured on very different rhetorical principles; but by the standards of the medieval art of preaching this short sermon is a masterpiece. Despite its grounding in the rhetorical tradition of the time, more personal features emerge. What strikes the reader in particular is the emphasis placed on the teachings of philosophers and scientists. The author was preaching on a purely theological theme, but he nevertheless quoted as his authorities Avicenna, Hermes Trismegitus, Ptolemy, the philosophers and Albertus Magnus. In Paris in the last decade of the thirteenth century, citations such as these would give a clear indication of the preacher's intention he wished to distance himself from the increasing~y hostile anti-philosophical movement within the Paris Faculty of Theology. At the same time, however, he was not a supporter of the singlemindedly philosophical opposition party, known as the 'radical Aristotelians', who had attempted, on the basis of Aristotelian ethics, to resurrect the old pagan morality of magnanimitas. In contrast to their teaching, the preacher emphasised humility as the archetypal Christian virtue. The young scholar who preached this sermon was to devote his whole life to such issues. He was 'Brother Eckhardus, Reader of the Sentences'. In retrospect, the Easter sermon of 1294 is very important for the reconstruction of Eckhart's life, as it allows us to make several biographical deductions. Only a baccalaureus of the Faculty of Theology (lecturer) could be a Reader and lecture on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. As the minimum age required by the Paris statutes for such a position was 33, Eckhart must have been born before 1260. His family belonged to the lower aristocracy and lived in Tambach near Gotha. Mter his basic education, he had joined the Dominican Order at the age of 18 and before being sent to study at the University of Paris, he had successfully completed the academic training of a Dominican student-this consisted of three years of aries libera/es, two years of natural philosophy (with emphasis on Aristotelian science) and three years theology as a studium