Description
Book SynopsisNone of the works included among Erasmus’ ‘Literary and Educational Writings’ in the Collected Works of Erasmus captures his most adventurous thinking about how texts signify in and thereby make or remake worlds of thought, feeling, and action. The one that comes closest to doing so, the Ratio verae theologiae (‘A System of True Theology’), was first published separately in 1518 and 1519, then appeared in the preliminaries to the New Testament in Erasmus’ (revised) 1519 edition.
This handy Ratio or compendious ‘System’ gave advice on how to interpret complex texts and develop persuasive arguments based upon them. Its lessons were applied to the canonical Scriptures as source, and to everyday Christian theology as target discourse. They unfold in response to the special difficulties and incitements of the biblical text in Latin and Greek, within a framework provided by classical grammar and rhetoric, adjus
Trade Review
"Fans of Praise of Folly and the Colloquies ought to open Erasmus on Literature to see what and how Erasmus wanted them to read. Scholars of theology will scrutinize the edition carefully, as Erasmus’s contemporaries did. Seminaries in need of a book that teaches exegesis more thoroughly than Augustine now have one, ready for immediate use." -- Willis Goth Regier, University of Illinois * Renaissance and Reformation *
Table of Contents
Foreword by Anthony Grafton Illustrations Notes on Contributors Abbreviations and Works Frequently Cited Abbreviations of Biblical Books Used in Explanatory Notes Editor’s Introduction Chronology of Erasmus’ Life and Works Approaches to Erasmus’ Ratio or ‘System’ of 1518–1519 The Ratio in Erasmus’ Life and Work to 1519 Mark Vessey Erasmus, Sacred Literature, and Literary Theory Brian Cummings Biblical Poetics in Scholasticism and the Ratio Christopher Ocker The Ratio and Annotations of Erasmus as Theory and Practice of Biblical Interpretation Riemer Faber The Parable of Sincere and Sophistical Discourse in the Ratio Kathy Eden Scheme of Contents of the Ratio verae theologiae Note on the Text The Ratio verae theologiae Preface: Purpose of the Ratio Elements of a Method for the Study of Scripture The Unity in Variety of the Gospel ‘The Wonderful Circle and Harmony of the Entire Drama of Christ’ The Figurative Character of the Language of Sacred Literature Elements of a Method for the Study of Scripture (Concluded) Explanatory Notes Conspectus of Church Fathers Cited in the Ratio Bibliography Concordance of Editions of the Ratio Index
