Curiositas und Wissbegier im Predigtœuvre des Alain von Lille (original) (raw)

Curiositas, 2022

Abstract

in: Curiositas, hrsg. v. Andreas Speer und Robert Maximilian Schneider, Berlin, Boston 2022 (Miscellanea Mediaevalia, 42), S. 267–291. Alain of Lille († 1202/03) counts among the most important scholars in Paris at the end of the 12th century. In his extensive oeuvre, he dealt with contemporary problems from a variety of subject areas, such as questions of epistemology and pastoral theology. Besides numerous sermons, the ‘Ars praedicadi’, one of the first theoretical treatises on the art of preaching, which has survived in over a hundred manuscripts, originates from his pastoral activities. Here, he reflected, for instance, about how to preach about various virtues and vices. This article asks which views on human curiosity Alain of Lille held and tried to convey in his practical theology. On the one hand, his understanding of the term ‘curiositas’ will be examined; on the other hand, the views expressed regarding the problem of human curiosity that go beyond this term will be analysed. While one would expect Alain – like his fellow masters elsewhere – to treat the vice of curiosity in sermon theory and practice, this seems not to be the case. There are only two brief passages on curiositas, the analysis of which also shows that the term does not stand for a problem of knowledge, but concerns about worldly things. Therefore, it is closer to the vice of avaritia than that of superbia. Picking up Alain’s ‘art of preaching’, one could not hope for any suggestions for preaching against the vitium curiositatis, since Alain probably did not consider it a priority. Conceptually, it is striking that Alain does not recognize any dishonest pursuit of knowledge – if the right method and, more importantly, the right mindset are given

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