Sermon Structure Research Articles

The Sermon on the Mount and Moral Theology: A Virtue Perspective by William C. Mattison III

Reviewed by: The Sermon on the Mount and Moral Theology: A Virtue Perspective by William C. Mattison III Charles Nathan Ridlehoover william c. mattison iii, The Sermon on the Mount and Moral Theology: A Virtue Perspective (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017). Pp. xiii + 279. $100. In modern literature on the Sermon on the Mount, there is no shortage of historical-critical, literary, and, more recently, postcolonial and feminist studies. This reservoir of scholarship provides ample resources for those inquiring about the origins, structure, and background of individual passages in the Sermon. Yet, amid this body of literature, very little has been written on the convergence of virtue-centered ethics and the Sermon. William Mattison, who is associate professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame, has written the present volume to fill this perceived void. His overarching purpose is that this text will not only further studies of the Sermon and virtue-centered ethics but will also contribute to the ongoing study of their intersection. To accomplish this task, M. begins with an explanation of the book's need, structure, and methodology. M. unabashedly admits his preference for a Thomistic ressourcement (meaning in continuity with patristics) virtue approach to morality (emphasis his). The section on the book's structure is especially helpful. The book's chapter order follows from M.'s rendering of the Sermon's structure. The book ends with the Lord's Prayer, which M. argues is the center of both the Sermon and foundational for the life of the church (with which I wholeheartedly agree). In terms of the individual chapters, M. addresses exegetical questions relevant to the biblical text but always as a segue to broader questions within a virtue-centered approach to morality. The first chapter begins with an analysis of the beatitudes (Matt 5:1-16). In many ways, this chapter sets the tone for M.'s reading of the Sermon. His initial argument is that the Sermon is primarily concerned with happiness. Happiness, of course, is the topic of numerous classical treatments of ethics and, therefore, as the Sermon's argued theme justifies the present study. M. continues with an analysis of each beatitude and its relation to qualifying conditions and subsequent rewards. The second chapter details the theme of "fulfillment" in Matt 5:17-48. Included in this chapter is an examination of the differences in Jesus's relationship to both the moral and the ceremonial laws of Judaism. M. argues that there is more continuity than is generally acknowledged between the old laws and Jesus's "new law." The highlight of this chapter is M.'s attention to the questions, (1) why are there six laws, and (2) why these six laws? In chap. 3, M. examines Matt 6:1-18, arguing that this section of the Sermon is a textbook lesson for intentionality and Thomistic action theory. Thomistic action theory explains the nature of certain acts with regard to their ends—in the case of Matthew 6, the concept of rewards. M. desires to correct the misunderstanding that [End Page 328] virtue theory is focused only on interiority. In chap. 4, he details the most structurally difficult section of the Sermon, 6:19–7:12, tracing the theme of single-mindedness throughout these verses. The first section, 6:19-34, examines one's view of temporal goods, and the second section, 7:1-11, examines one's relationships with brothers/sisters, outsiders, and God. This chapter is M.'s strongest exegetical chapter, particularly in regard to 6:25-34. The conclusion of the Sermon (7:13-29) is detailed in chap. 5. Given the eschatological (future) aspect of these verses, M. explains the Sermon conclusion in light of the virtue/vice of hope and presumption. The final chapter examines the Lord's Prayer and its relation to the theological (petitions 1–3) and cardinal virtues (petitions 1–4). In reading this volume, one will immediately be impressed with the organization and writing. Each chapter's introduction clearly states the author's thesis, and the explanations of difficult concepts are stellar. As M. states in his acknowledgments, the concerns of this book are for the ongoing work of Catholic...

"Olde feble wymmen with perseuerance ouercome many longe pilgrimages": Mapping the Feminine in Disce mori

"Olde feble wymmen with perseuerance ouercome many longe pilgrimages":Mapping the Feminine in Disce mori Denis Renevey Contrary to what its title may suggest, Disce mori is not a treatise about how to die. As a compilation, it is made up of several texts or extracts of texts that have been put together by a compiler to make a distinct and coherent whole. Disce mori is a manual of religious instruction, touching upon basic topics such as vices and virtues, an exposition of the Pater noster, the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the seven works of corporal and spiritual mercy. This didactic material is divided into ninety-seven chapters. They are followed by a final part, the "Exhortacion," which, in accordance with the progressive order of presentation of the material, deals with the more ambitious subject of contemplation. The anonymous treatise not only compiles at a thematic level, but also offers generic variety. Indeed, sermon structure, epistolary form, and lyric are brought together to construct a structurally coherent whole for the attention of a primarily female readership. Disce mori is one of the many compilations that are insufficiently investigated when discussing the medieval canon, genre, and gender. This compilation in fact raises issues as to the too often neglected question in modern scholarship of the role of anonymous writings and compilations within medieval literary culture. Indeed, focus on canonical authors and major genres such as romance overlooks complex questions about the relationship between the canon and compilations. The discussion of this relationship in Disce mori, with reference to Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde [End Page 351] and other canonical texts, problematizes it in interesting ways. Also, the construction of the female devout woman in particular, and the representation of readerly subjectivity identified as female, which this article explores, demonstrate the usefulness of extending our literary horizon for an understanding of the complex significance of anonymous works and compilations with the canon. Disce mori is extant in only two manuscripts: Oxford, Jesus College, MS 39 (J), which dates from the period 1453–64, and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Eng. th. C. 57 (L), which was copied around 1470, according to some features of its script.1 The compilation borrows from "rédaction w" of the French Miroir du monde, also known as Somme le roi. This treatise survives in more than 100 manuscripts and was translated into a large number of vernacular languages, with at least nine English versions.2 It also relies on a fifteenth-century Latin compilation, the Speculum spiritualium, for insertion of passages on remedies against the sins, following Miroir du monde passages on these sins. The first part of Speculum spiritualium is made up of catechetic material, followed by contemplative material gathered from the doctors of the Church and continental contemplatives, but also including Edmund of Abingdon, Walter Hilton, and Richard Rolle.3 In fact, as noticed by Eddie Jones, a quarter of Disce mori is borrowed from the Speculum spiritualium, including all of the material borrowed from Richard Rolle.4 Other compilations contribute to Disce mori's discussion on the virtues, which logically follows that on the sins. Indeed, between a third and a half of The Chastising of God's Children is found in Disce mori.5 The material used for the composition of Disce mori belongs to the range of texts that one could argue makes the fodder of religious compilation. The interest of this compilation lies especially in the way the material has been organized for the attention of a female lay readership. [End Page 352] Following a suggestion made by Jones that Disce mori was written for the attention of a vowess, Annette Kern-Stähler has argued that the passage discussing secular love's duplicity borrowed from Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde gains in didactic impact if, in fact, the recipient was a devout laywoman, rather than a nun, possibly from Syon Abbey.6 Kern-Stähler offers a perceptive analysis of episodes from Troilus and Criseyde that shows how a good understanding of the heroine, both initially as a model to emulate, and then as an exemplum of how not to fall into the lure of carnal love...

Arbor Praedicandi. Some Remarks on Dispositio in Mediaeval Sermons (on the Example of Sermo 39 “Semen Est Verbum Dei” by Mikołaj of Błonie)

The main aim of this paper is to present the motif of a tree-shaped compositional scheme called arbor picta (arbor praedicandi) and to show it against the field of rhetorical elements such as dispositio and memoria as found in mediaeval sermons. The basic sources for the analysis of this question are two fourteenth-century theoretical treatises on the art of preaching (manuals: Libellus artis preadicatorie by Jacobus de Fusignano and Tractatulus solennis de arte et vero modo praedicandi by Pseudo-Thomas Aquinas), and one of the sermons from the collection de tempore of a fifteenth-century Polish preacher, Mikołaj of Błonie (Dominica sexagesime: sermo 39 “Semen est verbum Dei”). The problems of arbor praedicandi, which are part of a broader field of study on the structure of sermons, editorial methods of texts and mnemonics, were the subject of interest of many researchers such as H. Caplan, O.A. Dieter, S. Khan, S. Wenzel. In Poland, this issue has not yet become a subject of proper study. In order to analyse this scheme in the treatises of Jacobus de Fusignano and Pseudo-Thomas Aquinas, as well as in the exemplary sermon, the paper briefly outlines the existence of topics and images of the tree in the writings of the Middle Ages (e.g. lignum vitae, arbor sapientiae, arbor amoris). Then fragments from the manuals of Jacobus de Fusignano and Pseudo-Thomas Aquinas are presented in which the authors discussed the scheme in question and explained its importance for the practice of preaching. An analysis of a practical example—here: sermo 39 from Mikołaj of Błonie’s collection de tempore—shows the creative use of the tree scheme in the sermon by the Polish preacher (with the speculative assumption that Mikołaj of Błonie knew Jacobus’s theory of preaching). Particular attention is also paid to the circumstances of the development of the art of preaching in the late Middle Ages in Poland. Finally, the importance of the concept of the sermon as a tree for the elements of rhetoric such as dispositio/divisio/partito and memoria is emphasised. In this study, it is shown that the use of the tree scheme in presenting abstract concepts and structuring texts allowed preachers and their audiences to visualise vague and often difficult ideas, as well as to describe their relationship within the subjects of the sermons. Therefore, the use of the scheme in the Middle Ages had great significance for ars memorativa and the didactic dimensions.

A Structural Analysis of Bonaventure's Omnium artifex docuit me sapientia

A Structural Analysis of Bonaventure's Omnium artifex docuit me sapientia Catherine A. Levri (bio) Introduction In the field of medieval studies, principia or inaugural sermons, sermons delivered at the ceremony which inaugurated a new master of theology, have recently received focused attention.1 The new masters at the University of Paris preached these sermons in two parts. The first part typically offered a praise of Scripture and is known as a commendatio or commendation. When the master later resumed his preaching in a second part known as a resumptio or resumption, he often divided the canon of Scripture. Together these two parts form a sermon united at least by the occasion, if not also by topic, and known as a principium. One newly discovered and edited inaugural sermon is Omnium artifex docuit me sapientia, delivered by Bonaventure at the University of Paris in 1254.2 The commendation studies Scripture according to Aristotle's four causes, and the resumption divides the canon of the arts and returns it to God through Scripture. This sermon has a unique textual history in that, at some point, its resumption was separated from its commendation and became known under its own title, De reductione artium ad theologiam. [End Page 67] The commendation was lost, but the Quaracchi editors document dozens of manuscripts of De reductione, a text which became regarded as Bonaventure's most important statement on the relationship of the arts and sciences to theology. Thus in reading Omnium artifex, scholars encounter not only Bonaventure's 1254 principium, but also the original context of De reductione, a context which has been missing for years. As a result, a study of Omnium artifex may contribute to the final resolution of the controversy surrounding Bonaventure's authorship of De reductione. Dieter Hattrup has proposed Roger Bacon (d. 1292) as the author.3 In four articles published in 2009, Joshua C. Benson, Timothy J. Johnson, Jay M. Hammond, and Kevin L. Hughes convincingly responded to Hattrup's proposal,4 but two of Hattrup's theological challenges still remain. First, Hattrup argues that De reductione lacks the robust Christological mediation (i.e., that the metaphysical emanation of the lights or sciences from God flows through Christ) characteristic of Bonaventure's other texts. Second, Hattrup suggests that De reductione treats the secular sciences more extensively than theology, a seeming incongruity with Bonaventure's other works. Hattrup's theological concerns may be answered by considering the original context of De reductione. At first glance, the two halves of the sermon appear to be totally unconnected. The first is a focused investigation of the four causes of Scripture, and the second half describes the secular sciences and then exegetes them allegorically, tropologically, and anagogically. The first half uses patterns of four, but the second half relies primarily on patterns of six (six sciences) and three (three spiritual senses). The first half does not seem to anticipate the second, and the second seems to be only loosely connected to the first as an expansion of the material cause of Scripture. Are these two halves, so different in content and pattern, related? The answer to this question is essential to a proper interpretation of Omnium artifex and thus to evaluating the history of interpretation of De reductione. If the resumption is not intrinsically related to the commendation, then the commendation is unnecessary for a proper reading of the resumption, and interpretations like Hattrup's could stand. Further, the [End Page 68] text as a whole can be called a sermon – and indeed, a text – only in an analogous fashion and would perhaps be better identified as two sermons or two texts. To demonstrate the unity of the text and thereby respond to Hattrup's critique, I will examine the sermon's structure. Specifically, I propose that a pattern of ortus-modus-fructus unites and governs the sermon as a whole and its halves. Bonaventure's attention to and use of structure in his texts has been well documented.5 These patterns often illuminate Bonaventure's meaning. Although he does not explicitly identify the ortus-modus-fructus form in this sermon, there are textual clues that suggest that this pattern guides the text...

The Symmetry of Life: The Sermonic Insights of Phillips Brooks

This article focuses on the sermon “The Symmetry of Life” by Phillips Brooks (1881), a late-18th-century American clergyman who was known for the depth and inspirational quality of his sermons. To set the context for consideration of the sermon, I discuss the religious journey of young men as presented in Striking Out (Capps 2011b) and my related article on Ernest Thayer (Capps 2015b); my psychobiographical study of young clergymen (Capps 2005) and employment of Levinson’s (1978) life structure model in my interpretation of Brooks’s young adulthood; the implications of preaching and the sermon structure for pastoral counseling (Capps 1980); and William James’s (1987) positive view of Brooks. Following brief commentaries on Brooks’s preaching style (Scarlett 1950) and a presentation of the sermon itself, I note several parallels between the implicit developmental model presented in the sermon and Levinson’s developmental model. I conclude with a brief discussion of Benjamin Franklin’s (1964) empirical study of the potential impact of George Whitefield’s preaching and the methodological implications of this study for pastoral theology.

Siegfried Wenzel, Medieval “Artes praedicandi”: A Synthesis of Scholastic Sermon Structure. (Medieval Academy Books 114.) Toronto: University of Toronto Press for the Medieval Academy of America, 2015. Pp. xviii, 133. $45. ISBN: 978-1-4426-5010-7.

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsSiegfried Wenzel, Medieval “Artes praedicandi”: A Synthesis of Scholastic Sermon Structure. (Medieval Academy Books 114.) Toronto: University of Toronto Press for the Medieval Academy of America, 2015. Pp. xviii, 133. $45. ISBN: 978-1-4426-5010-7.Holly JohnsonHolly JohnsonMississippi State University Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Speculum Volume 91, Number 1January 2016 The journal of the Medieval Academy of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/684322 Views: 135Total views on this site Copyright 2016 by the Medieval Academy of America. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Geneza, kontekst i tematyka kazań pasyjnych

Głoszenie prawdy o Chrystusie ukrzyżowanym i zmartwychwstałym stanowi jądro chrześcijańskiego przepowiadania. Są jednak w ciągu roku kościelnego okoliczności, w których dominuje tematyka pasyjna. Oprócz liturgii Niedzieli Palmowej i Wielkiego Piątku okazją do przepowiadania pasyjnego są nabożeństwa ludowe służące rozważaniu męki Pańskiej, odprawiane głównie w okresie Wielkiego Postu. Są one wyrazem pobożności pasyjnej. Do najbardziej znanych nabożeństw pasyjnych związanych z głoszeniem słowa Bożego należą: nabożeństwo ostatnich słów Chrystusa z krzyża i nabożeństwo gorzkich żali. To ostatnie jest typowo polskie. Jego istotnym elementem jest kazanie pasyjne, którego podstawowym tematem jest zbawczy wymiar męki Chrystusa. Źródłem dla tych kazań są ewangeliczne opowiadania o ukrzyżowaniu Chrystusa. Artykuł przedstawia genezę, kontekst, tematykę i strukturę kazań pasyjnych.

A Corpus-based Lexical Study of Sermons in Nigeria

Religious sermons play a very significant role in a pluralist setting like Nigeria, as organs of social, political and moral education. The fulfilment of these functions is partly contingent on the effective use of language. If the sermon-giver and his audience draw from the same pool of lexis, communication in the genre will not only be enhanced but its teaching and practice will also align, thereby bridging the gap between the two. It is to this end that this study attempts to identify the words most associated with Christian sermons in English, in Nigeria. To carry out this study, a corpus of present-day sermons in Nigeria was constructed and compared to a reference corpus of sermons from other parts of the world, in order to find out those lexical items which are characteristic of sermons, whether in terms of types, frequency or usage. The study reveals the role of textual context to be the definition of thematic focus because, although the sermon words in the two contexts manifest high similarity, their degrees of significance in the contexts differ substantially. Additionally, the findings reveal diversity, both in lexical choice and the discourse structure of sermons. However, in both contexts, the sermons demonstrate similarity in semantic grouping. So, for the teacher of English for religious purposes (ERP) and the user of English in church contexts, this work offers insights into the lexical world of sermons in Nigeria.

Images of Women in the Sermons of Guillaume Pepin (c.1465-1533)

The stereotype of the misogynistic medieval churchman persists in almost all scholarly assessments of gender attitudes and beliefs in the premodern period. Such sweeping generalizations do little to help us understand attitudes in one particular time and place, or changes over time; studies of individuals allow a more nuanced and richer understanding of male beliefs about women. Sermons in the late Middle Ages exhibit the full range of attitudes about women. In the sermons of Guillaume Pépin (c. 1465-1533), we find the preaching of a man who did not categorize women as the personification of Good or Evil, but talked at length about women and their problems in daily life with sympathy and compassion. The figures he evokes in his sermons are quite often strong, independent-minded women. Comparison with sermons in the mid-sixteenth century shows that many later preachers conform more closely to the stereotype, with the amount of attention given to women in sermons decreasing dramatically and negative descriptions predominating. Language is used much differently, and the resulting images of women are one-dimensional, with the female sex portrayed as subordinate, weak, and silly. These changes can be attributed to a number of factors, including the simplified sermon structure of the post Reformation period, the Reformation and misconceptions about the priesthood of all believers, the attempt to impose Catholic orthodoxy, and an increasing emphasis on the "natural order" of things.

Latin Sermon Collections from Later Medieval England: Orthodox Preaching in the Age of Wyclif (review)

Latin Sermon Collections from Later Medieval England: Orthodox Preaching in the Age of Wyclif. By Siegfried Wenzel. [Cambridge Studies in Medieval Literature.] (New York: Cambridge University Press. 2005. Pp. xxiv, 713. $170.00.) This impressive study is the culmination of more than forty years of Siegfried Wenzel's scholarly investigation of sermon manuscripts and, more generally, preaching in late medieval England. In it he sets out to build on, but also to modify the seminal works of G. R. Owst (Preaching in Medieval England and Literature and Pulpit in Medieval England) by identify[ing], describ[ing], and analyz[ing] surviving collections of Latin sermons that were produced in England between c. 1350 and c. 1450, the period that Owst himself had identified as the golden age of preaching in post-Conquest England. The need for such a study of Latin and orthodox sermons had long been recognized but had become more compelling as, ironically, the study of sermons in English from the same period, especially Wycliffite or Lollard sermons, had advanced significantly in recent years. Wenzel's study can be divided into several parts: First, he defines a variety of terms (model sermon collections, de tempore/de sanctis sermon cycles, etc.) and discusses issues (sermon structure, audience, occasion, etc.) that will be pertinent throughout the remainder of the volume. Those unfamiliar with sermon studies will find here a clear summary of basic information, while those knowledgeable in the field will appreciate Wenzel's careful discrimination in matters that can be all too easily generalized. Second, he surveys more than thirty manuscripts that contain collections of Latin sermons, providing technical information about each of the manuscripts (codicology, palaeography, provenance) and brief analyses of the principal features of the structure and content of the sermons. Included are discussions of the work of prominent figures such as bishops Richard FitzRalph, Thomas Brinton, and Philip Repingdon, less familiar individuals such as Robert Rypon, John Felton, and John Dygon, as well as anonymous sermons from monastic, mendicant, and parochial milieux. Wenzel offers detailed information, especially about the interrelationships of texts and manuscripts. In the course of this analysis, Wenzel calls attention to many issues that will be of interest to scholars of sermons. For example, the continued popularity of preachers from earlier periods (such as Jacobus de Voragine and Nicholas of Aquavilla) and the emergence of sermons that combine the exegetical strategy of the ancient homily with the structural principles of the scholastic (thematic) sermon. As an appendix to this survey, Wenzel has compiled an inventory of the basic information-theme, occasion, incipit/explicit, etc.-for all the sermons in these collections (more than 2000 total). The survey and appendix have been prepared with the thorough and meticulous scholarship for which Wenzel has long been admired-and to which a brief review can scarcely do justice. They will be invaluable for those studying the sermons and the network of manuscripts in which they are found, and will, no doubt, spark further scholarly inquiry. …

La metàfora cinegètica a l'«Spill» de Jaume Roig

Use and explanation of the metaphor of the chase in love in the Preface, the second book and the lesson of Solomon in Jaume Roig’s «Spill» (Mirror). Starting from an utterly medieval view of women, Roig sets out to give a lesson to those who do not know, something that is coherent with the sermon structure taken by the work.

:Preachers and People in the Reformations and Early Modern Period

Sermons are an invaluable source for our knowledge of religious history and sociology, anthropology, and the mental landscape of men and women in pre-modern Europe, of what they were taught and what they practiced. But how did an individual process the preached message from the pulpit? How exactly do written sermons duplicate the preached Word? Do they at all? The 11 leading scholars who have contributed to this book do not offer uniform answers or an all-encompassing study of preaching in the Reformations and early modern period in Europe. They do, however, provide new insights on Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed preaching in Western and Central Europe. Part One examines changes in sermon structure, style and content in Christian sermons from the thematic sermon typical of the Middle Ages to the wide variety of later preaching styles. Catholic preaching after Trent proves not to be monolithic and intolerant, but a hybrid of forms past and present, applied as needed to particular situations. Lutheran homiletic theory is traced from Luther and through Melanchthon, the intention of the sermon being to transform the worship service based on exegesis of Scripture. In Reformed worship, the expository sermon, often given on a daily basis with a continuing exegesis, was designed to communicate the tenets of the faith in terms that the laity could understand (plain style). Part Two deals with the social history of preaching in France, where preachers often incited their hearers to attack human beings or holy objects or were themselves attacked; in Italy, where preaching became a collective and home-grown product; in early modern Germany, where the authorities strove for uniformity ofpreaching practice and the preacher was seen as a moral guardian; in Switzerland, where leaders from Zwingli on sought to bring religious practice, conduct, and government in line with biblical teaching and propagated a pastoral vision of preaching; in England, where after the Reformation preachers became the indispensable agents of salvation, but clergy and congregations were often ill-prepared for the task; in Scandinavia, where post-Reformation sermons have a clear didactic aim, teaching obedience to the authorities; and in the Low Countries, characterised by its numerous denominations, all with their own churches and particular practices in terms of preaching. The volume ends with a consideration of the influence of late medieval preaching on the Reformation, concluding that the diversity of emphasis on how the practice of penance was preached (and received) very likely affected the appeal (or not) of the Lutheran/Reformed message in a given country. Preachers and People in the Reformations and Early Modern Period is previously published by Brill in hardback (ISBN 90 04 11564 1, still available)

Analysis of Sermons Delivered By Korean, Filipino and American Pastors: the View of Genre Analysis

This study analyzed and described the discourse structure of a sermon as a genre. It is also aimed to compare and contrast the cross-cultural variations of the discourse structure of a sermon delivered by Korean, Filipino and American pastors. More specifically, the objectives of this study are (1) to show the basic generic structure of sermons delivered by Korean, Filipino and American pastors; (2) to compare the general discourse structure of sermons of the three groups of pastors; (3) to discover the regular occurrences of rhetorical functions and markers to achieve moves in each stage; (4) to compare the use of rhetorical functions and markers of three groups of pastors having different cultural background; (5) to discover the most common markers realizing the rhetoncal functions.

Rethinking "Continuity": Erasmus' <i>Ecclesiastes</i> and the <i>Artes Praedicandi</i>

Erasmus' "radical orientation towards continuities," coupled with a series of congruent physical and philosophical circumstances, suggests a possible relationship between certain medieval artes praedicandi and the Ecclesiastes sive de Ratione Concionandi. By exploring the parallels between these texts, especially in the areas of sermon structure and function, the meaning of amplification and allegory, and specifically used terminology, this study extends the parameters of continuity by allowing the earlier allusive material to enrich one's understanding of the great Renaissance sermon manual. Thus, Erasmus' achievement can be viewed, not as a miraculous aberration, but as part of a long and variegated preaching tradition.

A Sermon in Praise of Philosophy

Worcester Cathedral MS F.10 forms a random collection of Latin, English, and macaronic sermons which were gathered and copied by a fairly large number of scribes in the middle of the fifteenth century. These sermons, most of them anonymous, are for a variety of occasions and audiences and have been entered in no particular liturgical order, even if, as the presence of several sets of quire numbers indicates, the individual quires were reordered several times in the medieval period. The collection contains a number of pieces that were evidently preached to a university audience, as is shown by their addressing “magistri” and by internal references to a university milieu. Their locale was presumably Oxford. Besides such general university sermons, the collection also includes two that are labeled “Introitus Sententiarum” and three other pieces that agree with these in form — the scholastic sermon structure — and content — praise of theology or holy Scripture and Peter Lombard. These five pieces are introitus, academic speeches or sermons which, according to university statutes, bachelors as well as masters (or doctors) of theology were required to deliver as they began their courses on the Bible or on Peter Lombard's Sentences. In addition, the manuscript contains an item that is very similar to the introitus sermons in that it follows the scholastic sermon structure and praises its subject. The latter, however, is not theology but philosophy, and the thema on which the piece is based is not a biblical text but a quotation from Aristotle. A sermon on a secular text itself is a rarity in medieval sermon literature, certainly from England; and appearing as it does in a sermon collection, the piece seems to be a rarissima avis stuck in the wrong flock.

Sermon Themes and Sermon Structure in "Everyman"

Sermon Themes and Sermon Structure in "Everyman"

French Pulpit Oratory, 1598-1650. A study in Themes and Styles, with a Descriptive Catalogue of Printed Texts

Preface Note on the presentation of texts Part I: 1. Studying sermons 2. Rhetoric in the schools 3. Rhetoric in the Church 4. Prose patterns 5. Sermon structure and its stylistic implications 6. Themes and their imagery (i) illusion and reality 7. Themes and their imagery (ii) 'Nature, that universal and publick Manuscript' Postscript Part II. Descriptive Catalogue of Printed Texts Explanatory note Abbreviations Catalogue Appendices Select bibliography Index to Part I.