Morality in the Scholastic Sermon: An Old Distinction Rediscovered (original) (raw)

Teaching Moral Ethics through Sermons: A Case Study on Gregory of Nyssa

Religions

This article studies six sermons related to proper social behavior from a Christian perspective by fourth-century theologian Gregory of Nyssa. A brief comment on the dating and the context of the sermons is given before the different themes discussed in the different liturgical seasons are analyzed, and then the content of each of these sermons is explored in some depth. Following this, an analysis of the persuasive and instructive styles in these sermons is made, underlining the different ways the bishop exhorts his people according to the matters at hand. When discussing issues that set a bad example, such as the practice of usury and the rejection of correction, the language used is very harsh; in other cases, the tone is softer, such as when it comes to deciding whether one should postpone his baptism or not or how one should behave vis-à-vis the more needy in society; when dealing with sensitive issues like fornication, given the natural human weakness in this aspect, the langu...

Medieval Sermon Studies since The Sermon: A Deepening and Broadening Field

Medieval Sermon Studies, 2014

Since the publication of The Sermon in 2000, the field of medieval sermon studies has matured into a well-established and growing interdisciplinary area of medieval studies. This article seeks to illustrate how we are doing our work and where our interests are taking us. Growing numbers of print and electronic resources facilitate locating, accessing, and interpreting texts and other historical sources pertinent to preaching. Via the preparation of carefully edited texts, the exploration of specific themes, and the illumination of particular preaching traditions, increased depth of understanding is being achieved. Sermonists use an expanding range of scholarly methodologies and pursue a broadening range of topics, here exemplified by memory and visual arts. Overarching much of our work is the desire to recover medieval experiences of what was fundamentally an oral and performative genre through its largely textual remains. keywords Resources, interdisciplinary, performance, reception, texts ological and geographical range with attention to both Latin and vernacular sermons. Each offers a sample sermon text. The volume concludes with an extensive bibliography. In the Introduction, Kienzle defines the sermon, a 'central literary genre in the lives of European Christians and Jews during the Middle Ages', in this way: 1) The sermon is essentially an oral discourse, spoken in the voice of a preacher who addresses an audience, 2) to instruct and exhort them, 3) on a topic concerned with faith and morals and based on a sacred text. 2 Much subsequent scholarship on medieval sermons has quoted this definition. The individual chapters serve as standard introductory works to particular kinds of sermon literature. The volume helped to consolidate the field at a time when medieval sermon studies was increasingly recognized as an integral part of medieval scholarship as a whole. Since then, the field of medieval sermon studies has continued to mature. Sermons are now identified as essential sources for various aspects of medieval history. Beginning students are introduced to sermons. Understanding Medieval Primary Sources, a recent introductory text, includes a chapter, 'The Medieval Sermon: Text, Performance and Insight'. The author asserts, that '[s]ermons were woven into the fabric of medieval culture and thus their study is inherently interdisciplinary. While sermons have been traditionally mined for the history of theology, the study of rhetoric, and glimpses into historical life, more recent scholarship has expanded into studies of performance, art, audience, women, devotional practice, spirituality, and other topics'. 3 At more specialized levels as well, sermons are a focus of increased attention. As Jessalyn Bird noted in a review of Christoph Maier's Crusade Propaganda and Ideology: Model Sermons for the Preaching of the Cross: 'It is testimony to the influence of sermon studies that crusade sermons have earned new respectability as sources for the history of the crusades. Their enduring attraction remains their ability to provide a glimpse of the amusing and instructive anecdotes, heroic exemplars, striking imagery and rhetorical appeals which could motivate lay and clerical audiences to sacrifice family, homeland, possessions and life itself to rescue the Holy Land [.. .] and to maintain both in the home and foreign fronts the penitential renunciation, financial support, liturgical intercessions and reforms considered necessary to earn the divine favour essential for the crusade campaign's moral and military success'. 4 While it is impossible to reference all the good work in the field since The Sermon was published, this article seeks to offer examples illustrating, under three broad headings, how we are doing our work and where our interests are taking us. The first heading is resources: growing numbers of print and electronic resources facilitate locating, accessing, and interpreting texts and other historical sources pertinent to preaching. The second is depth, the intensive study of particular facets of the field,

Virtue, Prudence, and Practical Wisdom in Medieval Christianity

Handbook of Practical Wisdom in Business and Management, 2020

The aim of this chapter is to give an overview of practical wisdom in medieval Christian philosophy. We will emphasize the influence of ancient moral philos- ophy and the novelty of several Christian authors. To do so, we will first describe the transmission of the Greek doctrines about virtue in the Middle Ages. We will remark mainly the complexity of this reception among the Early Church Fathers. Second, we will focus on two theories about virtue and prudence coming from two specific philosophers: Peter Abelard and Thomas Aquinas. The position of both philosophers illustrates the different reception and assimilation that the Greek doctrines of virtue received in the Middle Ages.

"The Cure of Souls is the Art of Arts:" Preaching, Confession, and Catechesis in the Middle Ages

In the European Middle Ages, the area in which the majority of lay Christians came into contact with the so-called institutional Church was pastoral care. Three principle areas of this care were preaching, confession, and catechesis. All three provide a window into popular religious practice, and thus, the study of pastoral care benefitted from the social-historical turn of the 1960s and 1970s and an increased emphasis on “the people.” One of the key aspects of this study of pastoral care has been in investigation of pastoralia, those works of literature meant to help clergy with the cure of souls carry out their tasks. The study of pastoralia begins with the manuscripts, but then aids several different approaches: history of sexuality, feminism, social and cultural history, and history of universities all make abundant use of pastoral literature.

The Use of Scripture in Moral Theology

2013

THEOLOGICAL STUDIES gravity of one's reason for acting must be proportionate. This is deter mined by studying the distance that separates cause and effect, the weight and nature of the precept obligating one to avoid the evil effect, the hoped-for good, and the right one has to pursue it. 62 These dimensions of the proposed action must be weighed together (simul). Thus, one must consider the requirements of justice, charity, piety, the common good, etc. This means that both proportion and disproportion will be due to different characteristics depending on the circumstances. Lanza concludes: "If, after all things are considered, the reason for acting seems reasonable, the effect is properly permitted and not imputed to the agent." 63 He expressly omits any material criterion for weighing and comparing, 64 and appeals to the judgment of the prudent person as the ultimate criterion. 65 Three things are clear in such statements: (1) Proportionate reason is a human (not mechanical) judgment. 66 (2) It must weigh many dimen sions (omnibus perpensis). (3) Its best measure is the prudent person. This suggests that systematic analysis may be too much to expect in all instances.

What is Moralistic Preaching? A Survey of Definitions and a Proposal for Preaching the Imperatives of Scripture

Homiletics texts frequently warn against moralistic sermons. But is there a common understanding of what constitutes moralistic preaching? This paper will compare and contrast the definitions of moralistic preaching given by three homileticians within the Christocentric school of preaching; it will then explore the negative effects of these definitions and propose an alternative definition of moralistic preaching; finally, it will propose some strategies to avoid moralistic preaching. These strategies will help preachers be more biblical in their sermon application by appropriately balancing the Scriptural demand for obedience with the reality of God's enabling power. Thus the paper aims to assist preachers in integrating a biblical theology of sanctification into their preaching ministry.

Religious Ethics, History, and the Rise of Modern Moral Philosophy: Focus Introduction

Journal of Religious Ethics, 2000

In this introduction to a cluster of three articles on eighteenth-century ethics written by Mark Larrimore, John Bowlin, and Mark Cladis, the author maintains that although the broad narrative tracing the emergence of a religiously neutral or naturalistic moral language in the eighteenth century is a familiar one, many central questions concerning this development remain unanswered and require further historical study. Against those who contend that historical study is antecedent to, but not part of, the proper substance of religious ethics, the author argues that historical and normative studies are interdependent, each helping to define the questions central to the other. The introduction concludes with an overview of the three articles and suggests ways in which religious ethicists can, in the future, make a distinctive contribution to the history of ethics.

The New Moral Life in the New Evangelization for the New Millennium

In its Decree on the Training of Priests (Optatam totius), the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council called for the renewal of all academic theological specializations, especially moral theology: Likewise let the other theological disciplines be renewed through a more living contact with the mystery of Christ and the history of salvation. Special care must be given to the perfecting of moral theology. Its scientific exposition, nourished more on the teaching of the Bible, should shed light on the loftiness of the calling of the faithful in Christ and the obligation that is theirs of bearing fruit in charity for the life of the world. Even though a generation has passed since the Council gave this mandate, two marvelous tools have been promulgated in recent years by the Magisterium to guide the renewal, the “perfecting” of moral theology: the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Catechismus Catholicae Ecclesiae) and The Splendor of Truth (Veritatis Splendor). This latter tool is Pope John Paul II’s encyclical letter on fundamental moral theology. This article will provide, first, an exposition of Chapter III in The Splendor of Truth titled “Morality and the New Evangelization,” ##106-108, and, second, a proposal derived from this segment of the encyclical which I have termed the “renewing approach” to Catholic moral theology.

Moral Theology, Culture of Counsel and the Society of Jesus in the Seventeenth Century

This paper explores the connection between the early modern debates over Proba- bilism and political counsel. It argues that the issue of counsel was important in the polemics against Jesuit moral theology. Theological challenges to Probabilism clearly show that many intellectuals were worried it could lead political counsellors astray and encourage them to defer to the whims of political authorities. This was not mere- ly a theoretical issue. Three French cases evidence the fact that political counsellors could claim an obligation to put obedience to their sovereign before obedience to religious authority—the pope in particular—on religious grounds. The discussion between anti-probabilists and probabilists during the second half of the seventeenth century shows the degree of unrest among theological and ecclesiastical authorities confronted with the demands of the state on individual conscience, and on the con- science of counsellors in particular.