In this biography of the noted French philosopher and theologian Jean Gerson, the first since 1929, Brian Patrick McGuire presents a compelling portrait of Gerson as a voice of reason and Christian humanism during a time of great intellectual and social tumult in the late Middle Ages.
Born to a peasant father and mother in the county of Champagne, Gerson (1363-1429) was the first of twelve children. He overcame his modest beginnings to become a scholastic and vernacular theologian, a university intellectual, and a church reformer.
McGuire shows us the turning points in...
In this biography of the noted French philosopher and theologian Jean Gerson, the first since 1929, Brian Patrick McGuire presents a compelling por...
Born in 1090, Bernard of Clairvaux died sixty-three years later, and was canonized in 1174. His friends and brothers began writing his official life even before he died, so convinced were they of his personal holiness and his importance to the Church of his day. Not everyone who knew him, however, liked him, no matter how much they may have admired his holiness. For nine centuries, those who have read his works and studied his activities have experienced a similar ambivalence. Some regard this 'most controversial and provocative of saints' as a great director of souls; others consider him an...
Born in 1090, Bernard of Clairvaux died sixty-three years later, and was canonized in 1174. His friends and brothers began writing his official life e...
The Companion to Jean Gerson provides a guide to new research on Jean Gerson (1363-1429), theologian, chancellor of the University of Paris, and church reformer. Ten articles outline his life and works, contribution to lay devotion, place as biblical theologian, role as humanist, mystical theology, involvement in the conciliar movement, dilemmas as university master and conflicts with the mendicants, views on women and especially on female visionaries, participation in the debate on the "Roman de la Rose," and the afterlife of his works until the French Revolution. Some of the...
The Companion to Jean Gerson provides a guide to new research on Jean Gerson (1363-1429), theologian, chancellor of the University of Paris, an...
"I assume that historical sources can convey human feeling, even though it is fruitless to psychologize individual friends or to reach complete explanations about their motives. I simply accept that because medieval Christians believed in friendship and felt the need for it, some of them both practiced and lived out friendships." from the new Introduction
Human beings have always formed personal friendships. Some cultures have left behind the evidence of philosophical discussion; some have provided only private or semipublic letters. By comparing these, one discerns the effect...
"I assume that historical sources can convey human feeling, even though it is fruitless to psychologize individual friends or to reach complete exp...
Jan van Ruusbroec (1293-1381), the most influential medieval Dutch author, is generally acknowledged to be one of the key figures in the tradition of Christian mysticism. This book concentrates on the medieval dimensions of Ruusbroec's authorship. Warnar offers a comprehensive analysis of Ruusbroec's oeuvre within the social, religious and literary frameworks of the fourteenth century Low Countries. Ruusbroec emerges as an author who was fully engaged in contemporary discussions on the contemplative life and mystical theology, as a charismatic guide who attracted a growing number of disciples...
Jan van Ruusbroec (1293-1381), the most influential medieval Dutch author, is generally acknowledged to be one of the key figures in the tradition of ...
