Weight of Love

Glenn Davis Robert

Description

Supplementing theological interpretation with historical, literary, and philosophical perspectives, The Weight of Love analyzes the nature and role of affectivity in medieval Christian devotion through an original interpretation of the writings of the Franciscan theologian Bonaventure. It intervenes in two crucial developments in medieval Christian thought and practice: the renewal of interest in the corpus of Dionysius the Areopagite in thirteenth-century Paris and the proliferation of new forms of affective meditation focused on the passion of Christ in the later Middle Ages. Through the exemplary life and death of Francis of Assisi, Robert Glenn Davis examines how Bonaventure traces a mystical itinerary culminating in the meditant's full participation in Christ's crucifixion. For Bonaventure, Davis asserts, this death represents the becoming-body of the soul, the consummation and transformation of desire into the crucified body of Christ.In conversation with the contemporary historiography of emotions and critical theories of affect, The Weight of Love contributes to scholarship on medieval devotional literature by urging and offering a more sustained engagement with the theological and philosophical elaborations of affectus. It also contributes to debates around the "affective turn" in the humanities by placing it within this important historical context, challenging modern categories of affect and emotion.

Sujets

• Christian theology
• Literary theory
• Theology
• Philosophy of religion

Informations

• Publié par: Fordham University Press
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780823272143
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

T h e We i g h t o f L o v e

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The Weight of Love Affect, Ecstasy, and Union in the Theology of Bonaventure

Robert Glenn Davis

f o r d h a m u n i v e r s i t y p r e s s New York 2017

The author and publisher are grateful to the Arts and Sciences Deans of Fordham University for providing funding toward production costs of this book.

Copyright © 2017 Fordham University Press

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Davis, Robert Glenn, author. Title: The weight of love : affect, ecstasy, and union in the theology of Bonaventure / Robert Glenn Davis. Description: New York : Fordham University Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016013982 | ISBN 9780823272129 (cloth : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780823274536 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH : Bonaventure, Saint, Cardinal, approximately 1217–1274. | Love—Religious aspects—Christianity— History of doctrines—Middle Ages, 600 –1500. Classification: LCCB 765. B 74 D 38 2017 | DDC 241/.4 —dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016013982

Printed in the United States of America 19 18 17 5 4 3 2 1 First edition

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c o n t e n t s

Introduction: Weighing Affect in Medieval Christian Devotion 1 The Seraphic Doctrine: Love and Knowledge in the Dionysian Hierarchy 29 Affect, Cognition, and the Natural Motion of the Will 45 Elemental Motion and the Force of Union 65 Hierarchy and Excess in theItinerarium mentis in Deum88 The Exemplary Bodies of theLegenda Maior107 Conclusion: A Corpus, in Sum 127

Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

vii

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