Lectio divina : the medieval experience of reading / by Duncan Robertson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Robertson, Duncan.

Series:

Cistercian studies series ; no. 238.

Cistercian studies series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Books and reading--Religious aspects--Christianity--History--To 1500.

Books and reading.

Books and reading--Religious aspects--Christianity.

History.

Physical Description:

xxi, 247 pages ; cm.

Place of Publication:

Trappist, Ky. : Cistercian Publications ; Collegeville, Minn. : Liturgical Press, [2011]

Summary:

During the Middle Ages the act of reading was experienced intensively in the monastic exercise of lectio divinathe prayerful scrutiny of passages of Scripture, savored in meditation, memorized, recited, and rediscovered in the readers own religious life. The rich literary tradition that arose from this culture includes theoretical writings from the Conferences of John Cassian (fifth century) through the twelfth-century treatises of Hugh of St. Victor and the Carthusian Guigo II; it also includes compilations, literary meditations, and scriptural commentary, notably on the Song of Songs. This study brings medievalist research together with modern theoretical reflections on the act of reading in a consolidation of historical scholarship, spirituality, and literary criticism.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Scholarly Contexts: Ressourcement and Research 1

Ressourcement 1

Jean Leclercq 4

Henri de Lubac 11

Research and Practice 23

Implications for Literary Theory 27

Chapter 2 The Interpretation of the Scriptures 38

Letter and Spirit 38

Origen's On First Principles 43

Saint Augustine 50

Saint Gregory the Great 57

Chapter 3 Reading and Meditation 72

Classical Education 72

The Conversion of Reading 76

Cassian's Conferences 81

Reading in the Monastery 88

Chapter 4 Reading into Writing 104

Chapters on Reading 107

Liturgy and Private Prayer 120

Carolingian Libelli Precum 125

Chapter 5 The Extension of Meditation 133

John of Fécamp's Confessio theologica 133

Saint Anselm of Canterbury's Orationes sive meditationes 145

Chapter 6 Reading the Song of Songs 156

Origen's Commentary on the Song of Songs 158

Origen's Homilies on the Song of Songs 163

Gregory's Exposition on the Song of Songs 170

Bernard of Clairvaux's Sermons on the Song of Songs 175

Bernard's Reading Project 180

Allegorical Analysis 184

The Voice of the Bride 192

Chapter 7 The Twelfth-Century Integration 203

Meditatio and Meditationes 204

Hugh of Saint-Victor 212

Guigo II 224

Chapter 8 The Book of Experience 231.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780879072384

0879072385

9780879072049

0879072040

OCLC:

747018926