Erasmus on Literature : His Ratio or 'System' Of 1518/1519 / edited by Mark Vessey from the translation and notes by Robert D. Sider ; with a foreword by Anthony Grafton and essays by Brian Cummings [and three others].

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Vessey, Mark, editor.

Sider, Robert D. (Robert Dick), editor.

Grafton, Anthony, writer of foreword.

Cummings, Brian, writer of foreword.

Series:

Erasmus studies.

Erasmus Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Erasmus, Desiderius, -1536--Criticism and interpretation.

Erasmus, Desiderius.

Erasmus, Desiderius, -1536--Translations into English.

Erasmus, Desiderius, -1536. Ratio verae theologiae.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Translations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (378 p.)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Toronto, Ontario : University of Toronto Press, [2021]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Nothing captures Erasmus’ most adventurous thinking about how texts signify in – and thereby make or remake – worlds of thought, feeling, and action more than the Ratio verae theologiae (‘A System of True Theology’). First published separately in 1518 and 1519, it also appears in the preliminaries to the New Testament in Erasmus’ revised 1519 edition. This handy Ratio or compendious ‘System’ gives advice on how to interpret complex texts and develop persuasive arguments. Its lessons are applied to the canonical Scriptures as source, and to everyday Christian theology as target discourse. They unfold in response to the special difficulties and incitements of the biblical text in Latin and Greek, within a framework provided by classical grammar and rhetoric and adjusted to the examples of the Church Fathers as exemplary interpreters of the Bible. At every turn, the Ratio reveals the instincts and intuitions of an exceptional theorist and practitioner of the cognitive, social, and political arts of written language. This student edition, the first of its kind in any language, is based on the translation and notes by Robert D. Sider in the Collected Works of Erasmus. It is designed to make it easier to estimate the long-term value of this particular work and of Erasmus’ works more generally, and to allow for a multidisciplinary understanding of the lives of human beings as symbol-using creatures in worlds constructed partly by texts.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Foreword

Notes on Contributors

Abbreviations and Works Frequently Cited

Abbreviations of Biblical Books Used in Explanatory Notes

Editor’s Introduction

Chronology of Erasmus’ Life and Works

Part one: Approaches to Erasmus' ratio or 'system' of 1518/1519

The Ratio in Erasmus’ Life and Work to 1519

Erasmus, Sacred Literature, and Literary Theory

Biblical Poetics in Scholasticism and the Ratio

The Ratio and Annotations as Theory and Practice of Biblical Interpretation

The Parable of Sincere and Sophistical Discourse in the Ratio

Part two: The Ratio Verae Theologicae

Scheme of Contents of the Ratio verae theologiae

Note on the Text

Ratio verae theologiae Preface: Purpose of the Ratio

A1 – Elements of a Method for the Study of Scripture

B1 The Unity in Variety of the Gospel

B2a ‘The Wonderful Circle and Harmony of the Entire Drama of Christ’

B2b The Figurative Character of the Language of ‘Sacred Literature’

A2 Elements of a Method for the Study of Scripture (concluded)

Explanatory Notes

Conspectus of Church Fathers Cited in the Ratio

Bibliography

Concordance of Editions of the Ratio

Index of Rhetorical Terms and Literary-Critical Concepts

General Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Mai 2021)

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-4875-1583-9

1-4875-1582-0

OCLC:

1246584066