Ars praedicandi

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Decorative initial Q at the start of the anonymous ars with the incipit Quoniam fructus prophetie est secure Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France, MS Latin 3276, fol. 1r (initial).png
Decorative initial Q at the start of the anonymous ars with the incipit Quoniam fructus prophetie est secure

Ars praedicandi (Latin for "the art of preaching", plural artes praedicandi) was a literary genre [1] of the later Middle Ages, comprising treatises and manuals to aid preachers in composing and delivering sermons in the then modern style. [2] [3] [4] [5] The singular term could also refer to the act or theory of preaching itself. [6] [7] The ars praedicandi was one of several genres of technical [8] treatise in literary composition that flourished in the later Middle Ages, alongside the ars dictaminis for letter writing, ars grammatica for Latin grammar and ars poetriae  [ fr ] for verse. [9] [10] The ars praedicandi may thus be considered one of the medieval branches of rhetoric. [9] It also belongs to the broader category of late medieval pastoralia . [11]

Contents

Artes praedicandi can be contrasted with other sermon aids, such as treatises on virtues and vices aimed at preachers, sermon collections, collections of sententiae or exempla , [12] and model sermons. [13] The genre is also limited to Western Christianity. In Eastern Christianity, where such formal treatises on preaching did not develop, their role was largely filled by sermon collections. [14]

Origins

The appearance of the ars praedicandi begins what has been called the "third phase" in the history of Christian preaching in the West, [15] [16] following the preaching of Christ and the apostles as reported in the New Testament (first phase) and a long period with only limited and general theoretical contributions (second phase). [16] The major influences on the artes from the second phase are Augustine of Hippo's De doctrina christiana (426), Gregory the Great's Cura pastoralis (591) and Hrabanus Maurus' De institutione clericorum (819). [15] [16]

Augustine advised Christian orators to make use of established rhetorical techniques. [10] The authors of artes praedicandi were influenced by classical writings on rhetoric and oratory, [6] [14] especially the works of Cicero, Quintilian and the anonymous Rhetorica ad Herennium . [14] In this, however, the ars praedicandi, was a relatively late arrival, coming about a century later, for example, than the ars poetriae. [10]

The earliest of the ars praedicandi type is generally considered to be Alan of Lille's Summa de arte praedicatoria of 1200. [6] [14] His work has its 12th-century predecessors in the sermon collections of Honorius of Autun, Maurice of Sully and Peter the Chanter. [14] One of the earliest works on preaching that led directly to the later artes is the Quo ordine sermo fieri debeat of Guibert of Nogent (1084). [14] [17] [15] [18]

Although Alan of Lille's treatise may be the first ars praedicandi, its title is a later invention. He did not use the phrase. The first person to use the technical term ars in reference to preaching appears to be William of Auvergne in his Summa de arte praedicandi of the second quarter of the 13th century, although Thomas of Chobham may have used it slightly earlier. [19]

Scholastic sermons

The artes praedicandi were written for a specific type of sermon that was in vogue between the early 13th and late 15th centuries. [20] This is usually known as the scholastic sermon or university sermon, [6] [20] but has also been called the thematic sermon or modern sermon. [20] [21] It is distinct from the typical homily, in which a longer biblical text (lection) is read and explained according to the four senses of Scripture, a form that dated back to antiquity and continued to be popular into modern times. [20]

The scholastic sermon, on the contrary, began with a prologue, stating its theme, followed by a short biblical text. The theme was then divided and subdivided before being developed to conclusions, supported by reference to authorities, such as Scripture, the Church Fathers or exempla. [6] This threefold structure—thema, division, and development—is the backbone of the scholastic sermon. [20] The rise of this sermon type "accompanied, and perhaps caused" the appearance of ars praedicandi. [22]

Content and types

Although central to the artes praedicandi was sermon composition and structure, they could cover all aspects of preaching, including the preacher's moral rectitude and study habits and the physical act of preaching. [23] [24] Siegfried Wenzel identified three main types of ars praedicandi depending on how much material they cover: "comprehensive" artes cover all the aforementioned areas; "complete" artes cover composition and structure only; and "limited" artes cover only a single aspect of sermon structure. [1]

Influence

How the artes praedicandi were actually used in practice is an open question in scholarship. Few of them are well preserved in manuscript, although it may be that as well used and well worn manuscripts they had a poor survival rate. [25] Only one manuscript copy of any text shows signs of use—marginal notes and glosses—Alan of Lille's Summa de arte praedicatoria in Cambridge University Library MS Ii.I.24. [26] Siegfried Wenzel has, however, detected adherence to the prescriptions of the artes even in vernacular sermon texts of the 14th and 15th centuries. [25] Moreover, many artes make reference to actual practices. Robert of Basevorn distinguishes practices typical at the University of Paris from those of Oxford University. [27]

The influence of the artes praedicandi has also been detected in the structure of the Gawain poet's poems Cleanness [28] and Pearl . [29]

Authors and texts

The latest artes praedicandi were written in the 16th century. [14] The tradition came to an end with the Reformation. [30] Over 300 texts have been identitified. [31] Only about 30 of these have modern editions. [20]

Many works are pseudepigraphal, either deliberately so (whether by their authors or by scribes or printer) in order to increase readership or else misattributed through confusion or error. Artes praedicandi in both manuscripts and printed editions are attributed to three famous theologians—Albert the Great, Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas—but none of the attributions are genuine. In the case of that misattributed to Albert, its actual author, William of Auvergne, is known. [32]

Many works with known authors also circulated anonymously in the manuscripts. Authors sometimes borrowed material from each other, creating composite works that defy easy attribution. Difficulties like these have sometimes been compounded by editors misidentifying similar texts. [33]

The popularity of the genre was not even across space and time. In the 13th century, most known authors were active in France and England. In the 14th century, there is an increase in authors from Italy, the Iberian Peninsula and the Low Countries. Authors from Germany and further east appear later. [34]

Manuscripts

Artes were rarely bound alone but are usually found alongside other works in composite manuscripts. These come in two types: higher quality folio-sized sermon collections in which the artes serve as introductions or epilogues and more practical quarto-sized collections of preacher's aids. The longest text is just over 100 leaves in quarto format, but most are much shorter. [35]

List of known authors

Among the authors of artes praedicandi are: [36]

List of anonymous texts

Among anonymous texts that have been edited and published, many known by their incipits, are:

References

  1. 1 2 Wenzel 2015, p. 3.
  2. ↑ Kienzle 2010: "the rhetorical manuals written from 1200 onward [that] advise preachers".
  3. ↑ Schumacher 2022: "provided instruction in the composition of sermons either as an adjunct to a collection of sermons or as a manual which circulated with other aids for the preacher."
  4. ↑ Wenzel 2015 , p. xv: "treatises of varying length ... whose major aim was to instruct beginning preachers in composing their sermons in conformity with the 'modern' usage."
  5. ↑ Briscoe 1982: "manuals of instruction on sermon writing."
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Kienzle 2010.
  7. ↑ Wenzel 2015, p. 3n.
  8. ↑ Wenzel 2015 , p. 3, glosses ars as 'technique'. Wenzel 2005 , p. 84, defines it as "a rational method or technique employed to carry out a practical task".
  9. 1 2 Gallick 1977, p. 477.
  10. 1 2 3 Briscoe 1995, p. 17.
  11. ↑ Şenocak 2022, p. 90.
  12. ↑ Caplan 1934 , p. 3, contrasts such "homiletical aids" with "technical Arts", but whereas he treats the Summa praedicantium of John of Bromyard as an artes praedicandi, Briscoe 1995 , p. 18, considers it and works like Thomas of Ireland's Manipulus florum to be "companion pieces to the artes praedicandi".
  13. ↑ Tamminen 2018, pp. 37–38.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Schumacher 2022.
  15. 1 2 3 Chance 1991, p. 34.
  16. 1 2 3 Murphy 1974, p. 275.
  17. ↑ Caplan 1934, p. 3.
  18. ↑ Wenzel 2015, p. 4.
  19. ↑ Briscoe 1995, p. 18.
  20. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Wenzel 2015, p. xv.
  21. ↑ Chance 1991 , p. 34, has "thematic preaching".
  22. ↑ Wenzel 2005, pp. 84–85.
  23. ↑ Kienzle 2010: "the formal composition of sermons, the modes of preaching, the moral behaviour of the preacher, and the delivery of sermons."
  24. ↑ Wenzel 2015 , p. 3: "the preacher's moral life and study, his articulation and gestures while preaching, and the actual form of his sermon."
  25. 1 2 Reeves 2013, p. 378.
  26. ↑ Briscoe 1995, pp. 67–68.
  27. ↑ Wenzel 2013, p. xi.
  28. ↑ Blanch, Miller & Wasserman 1991, p. xiii.
  29. ↑ Chance 1991, p. 33.
  30. ↑ Murphy 1974, p. 276.
  31. ↑ Murphy 1974 , p. 275: "more than three hundred treatises". Schumacher 2022: "over 300 artes praedicandi have survived from the 13th to the 16th cent." But Kienzle 2010 refers to "more than 300 [manuscripts]". Wenzel 2015 , p. xv, counts "over 230 numbered items" in Caplan 1934 and Caplan 1936. Wenzel 2013 , p. vii: "roughly two hundred forty artes praedicandi know to exist".
  32. ↑ Gallick 1977, pp. 478–479.
  33. ↑ Gallick 1977, p. 479.
  34. ↑ Briscoe 1995, p. 67.
  35. ↑ Briscoe 1982.
  36. ↑ Taken from Wenzel 2015 , pp. v–vii, and Caplan 1934 , pp. 38–40, except where noted.
  37. ↑ Charland 1936, pp. 23–24.
  38. ↑ Charland 1936, pp. 27–28.
  39. ↑ Charland 1936, p. 29.
  40. 1 2 Charland 1936, p. 34.
  41. ↑ Charland 1936, p. 36.
  42. ↑ Charland 1936, pp. 45–46.
  43. ↑ Charland 1936, p. 46.
  44. ↑ Charland 1936, p. 52.
  45. ↑ Briscoe 1995, p. 71.
  46. ↑ Caplan 1936, p. 28.
  47. ↑ Charland 1936, p. 71.
  48. ↑ In Wenzel, but his works are rejected as artes by Caplan 1934 , p. 3.
  49. ↑ Wenzel 2015, pp. 14–15.
  50. ↑ Wenzel 2015, pp. 8–9.
  51. ↑ Wenzel 2015, pp. 18–19.
  52. ↑ Wenzel 2015, pp. 33–34.
  53. ↑ Wenzel 2015, pp. 27–28.
  54. ↑ Wenzel 2015, pp. 13–14.
  55. ↑ Wenzel 2015, pp. 19–20.
  56. ↑ Wenzel 2015, pp. 36–37.
  57. ↑ Wenzel 2015, pp. 37–38.
  58. ↑ Wenzel 2015, p. 34.

Bibliography

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