1st Edition

The Literal Sense and the Gospel of John in Late Medieval Commentary and Literature

By MArk Hazard Copyright 2002
    228 Pages
    by Routledge

    228 Pages
    by Routledge

    Focusing on the famous Medieval commentator Nicolas of Lyra and the anonymous Middle English biblical adaptation of the Gospel of John, the Cursor Mundi, this book examines the development of the analytical tools of biblical literary criticism showing how late Medieval commentators negotiated the paradoxical interdependence of the literal and spiritual senses, as transmitted by traditional and inherited vocabularies, through a focus on narrative structure. Mark Hazard combines an enlightening account of the actual practice of professional commentators, the history of Gospel interpretation and cultural history to reveal that remarkable shift in the treatment of the Bible that modern scholars would regard as having laid the groundwork for the historical-critical methods in biblical research. As such this book sheds light not only on the 14th century practice of biblical interpretation, but will also be of value to those currenlty engaged in reading and writing about the bible.

    Acknowledgments
    Preface
    Note on Abbreviations
    Chapter One: Introduction
    Chapter Two: Nicholas of Lyra and the Narrative of John's Gospel
    The Gospel's Visionary Basis
    The Narrative Quality of the Gospels
    John's Visionary Authority
    Methods
    Gospel Structure and Literal Meaning
    Circumstances: the Wedding at Cana
    Psychology and the Literal: the Samaritan Woman
    Narrative Control and History
    The Logic of Narrative Incident: the Woman Taken in Adultery
    Miracles and Divine Rhetoric: Lazarus
    Structure, History, and the Teaching Purpose of Christ: the Pool at Bethesda
    Incarnate Meaning and the Legend of the Cross
    The Meaning of Christ's Weakness
    Chapter Three: The Cursor Mundi, Narrative and Sacred History
    Religious Purpose and Esthetic Pleasure
    Narrative and the History of the Universe
    Peter Comestor, Eden, and the Tree of Life
    The Vision of the Wands
    Allegories
    The Legend of the Cross
    The Infancy Miracles and the Harshness of the Visible Presence
    The Ministry of Christ, the Gospel of John, and Herman of Valenciennes
    The Passion and Self-Revelation
    Judas and the Prophesying Chicken
    Chapter Four: The Four Daughters of God, the Last Judgment, and the Scope of the Real
    The Last Judgment and Literalism
    The Four Daughters of God and Wisdom Literature
    The Meditationes Vitae Christi and Apocrypha
    The English Mystery Cycles and the Gospel of John
    The Towneley Last Judgment
    The Mixed Mode of Piers Plowman
    Notes
    Bibliography
    Index

    Biography

    Mark Hazard