Tropologies : ethics and invention in England, c.1350-1600 /
McDermott, Ryan, 1978-
Tropologies : ethics and invention in England, c.1350-1600 / Ryan McDermott. - 1 online resource - Reformations, medieval and early modern . - Reformations. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Cover; TROPOLOGIES; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; List of Illustrations ; Acknowledgments ; Introduction ; 1 Tropological Theory ; 2 How to Invent History: Patience, the Glossa ordinaria, and the Ethics of the Literal Sense ; 3 "Beatus qui verba vertit in opera": Langland's Ethical Invention. 4 Practices of Satisfaction and Piers Plowman's Dynamic Middle 5 Tropology Reformed: Scripture, Salvation, Drama ; 6 Mirror of Scripture: Ethics and Anagogy in the York Doomsday Pageant ; Conclusion ; Bibliography ; Index.
"Tropologies is the first book-length study to elaborate the medieval and early modern theory of the tropological, or moral, sense of scripture. Ryan McDermott argues that tropology is not only a way to interpret the Bible but also a theory of literary and ethical invention. The "tropological imperative" demands that words be turned into works--books as well as deeds. Beginning with Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the Great, then treating monuments of exegesis such as the Glossa ordinaria and Nicholas of Lyra, as well as theorists including Thomas Aquinas, Erasmus, Martin Luther, and others, Tropologies reveals the unwritten history of a major hermeneutical theory and inventive practice. Late medieval and early Reformation writers adapted tropological theory to invent new biblical poetry and drama that would invite readers to participate in salvation history by inventing their own new works. Tropologies reinterprets a wide range of medieval and early modern texts and performances--including the Patience-Poet, Piers Plowman, Chaucer, the York and Coventry cycle plays, and the literary circles of the reformist King Edward VI--to argue that "tropological invention" provided a robust alternative to rhetorical theories of literary production. In this groundbreaking revision of literary history, the Bible and biblical hermeneutics, commonly understood as sources of tumultuous discord, turn out to provide principles of continuity and mutuality across the Reformation's temporal and confessional rifts. Each chapter pursues an argument about poetic and dramatic form, linking questions of style and aesthetics to exegetical theory and theology. Because Tropologies attends to the flux of exegetical theory and practice across a watershed period of intellectual history, it is able to register subtle shifts in literary production, fine-tuning our sense of how literature and religion mutually and dynamically informed and reformed each other. "This is an original book. It draws confidently on a wide range of medieval critical and scholarly work, as well as on a cogent body of contemporary theory and theology. It not only moves easily and eloquently between the fourteenth and the sixteenth centuries but also delves back into the 'tropological' Christian thought of the previous thousand years."--Nicolette Zeeman, University of Cambridge"--
9780268087050 (electronic bk.) 0268087059 (electronic bk.) 9780268087098 0268087091
22573/ctvpgkchn JSTOR
2016004189
Bible--Criticism, interpretation, etc.--History.
Bible--Influence.
Bible--In literature.
Bible--Critique, interprétation, etc.--Histoire.
Bible--Influence.
Bible.
1100-1700
English literature--History and criticism.--Middle English, 1100-1500
English literature--History and criticism.--Early modern, 1500-1700
Bible and literature.
Ethics in literature.
Religion and literature.
Littérature anglaise--Histoire et critique.--1100-1500 (Moyen anglais)
Bible et littérature.
Morale dans la littérature.
Religion et littérature.
LITERARY CRITICISM--European--English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh.
LITERARY CRITICISM--Renaissance.
Bible and literature.
English literature--Early modern.
English literature--Middle English.
Ethics in literature.
Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.)
Literature.
Religion and literature.
Englisch
Ethik
Exegese
Literatur
Medelengelsk litteratur--historia.
Bibeln i litteraturen.
Religion och litteratur.
Bibeln--influenser.
Electronic books.
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
History.
PR275.B5 / M33 2016eb
820.9/3823
Tropologies : ethics and invention in England, c.1350-1600 / Ryan McDermott. - 1 online resource - Reformations, medieval and early modern . - Reformations. .
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Cover; TROPOLOGIES; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; List of Illustrations ; Acknowledgments ; Introduction ; 1 Tropological Theory ; 2 How to Invent History: Patience, the Glossa ordinaria, and the Ethics of the Literal Sense ; 3 "Beatus qui verba vertit in opera": Langland's Ethical Invention. 4 Practices of Satisfaction and Piers Plowman's Dynamic Middle 5 Tropology Reformed: Scripture, Salvation, Drama ; 6 Mirror of Scripture: Ethics and Anagogy in the York Doomsday Pageant ; Conclusion ; Bibliography ; Index.
"Tropologies is the first book-length study to elaborate the medieval and early modern theory of the tropological, or moral, sense of scripture. Ryan McDermott argues that tropology is not only a way to interpret the Bible but also a theory of literary and ethical invention. The "tropological imperative" demands that words be turned into works--books as well as deeds. Beginning with Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory the Great, then treating monuments of exegesis such as the Glossa ordinaria and Nicholas of Lyra, as well as theorists including Thomas Aquinas, Erasmus, Martin Luther, and others, Tropologies reveals the unwritten history of a major hermeneutical theory and inventive practice. Late medieval and early Reformation writers adapted tropological theory to invent new biblical poetry and drama that would invite readers to participate in salvation history by inventing their own new works. Tropologies reinterprets a wide range of medieval and early modern texts and performances--including the Patience-Poet, Piers Plowman, Chaucer, the York and Coventry cycle plays, and the literary circles of the reformist King Edward VI--to argue that "tropological invention" provided a robust alternative to rhetorical theories of literary production. In this groundbreaking revision of literary history, the Bible and biblical hermeneutics, commonly understood as sources of tumultuous discord, turn out to provide principles of continuity and mutuality across the Reformation's temporal and confessional rifts. Each chapter pursues an argument about poetic and dramatic form, linking questions of style and aesthetics to exegetical theory and theology. Because Tropologies attends to the flux of exegetical theory and practice across a watershed period of intellectual history, it is able to register subtle shifts in literary production, fine-tuning our sense of how literature and religion mutually and dynamically informed and reformed each other. "This is an original book. It draws confidently on a wide range of medieval critical and scholarly work, as well as on a cogent body of contemporary theory and theology. It not only moves easily and eloquently between the fourteenth and the sixteenth centuries but also delves back into the 'tropological' Christian thought of the previous thousand years."--Nicolette Zeeman, University of Cambridge"--
9780268087050 (electronic bk.) 0268087059 (electronic bk.) 9780268087098 0268087091
22573/ctvpgkchn JSTOR
2016004189
Bible--Criticism, interpretation, etc.--History.
Bible--Influence.
Bible--In literature.
Bible--Critique, interprétation, etc.--Histoire.
Bible--Influence.
Bible.
1100-1700
English literature--History and criticism.--Middle English, 1100-1500
English literature--History and criticism.--Early modern, 1500-1700
Bible and literature.
Ethics in literature.
Religion and literature.
Littérature anglaise--Histoire et critique.--1100-1500 (Moyen anglais)
Bible et littérature.
Morale dans la littérature.
Religion et littérature.
LITERARY CRITICISM--European--English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh.
LITERARY CRITICISM--Renaissance.
Bible and literature.
English literature--Early modern.
English literature--Middle English.
Ethics in literature.
Influence (Literary, artistic, etc.)
Literature.
Religion and literature.
Englisch
Ethik
Exegese
Literatur
Medelengelsk litteratur--historia.
Bibeln i litteraturen.
Religion och litteratur.
Bibeln--influenser.
Electronic books.
Criticism, interpretation, etc.
History.
PR275.B5 / M33 2016eb
820.9/3823