Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T21:22:50.441Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Apertio Libri: Codex and Conversion

from Part I - Medieval and Early Modern Practices of Reading

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2013

Christopher Wild
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
Eric Downing
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Jonathan M. Hess
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Richard V. Benson
Affiliation:
Valparaiso University
Get access

Summary

Introduction

In his discussion in the Theodicy “of the dispensation of the means and circumstances contributing to salvation and to damnation,” Leibniz is confronted with a problem: the Bible seems to suggest that God directly influences the will of some humans such as the pharaoh, whose heart he hardened. In this way, God “inspires men with a kind of anti-grace” (178; § 99). Since this would contradict the theological premise that God's “goodness makes him contribute the least possible to that which can render men guilty, and the most possible to that which serves to save them” (169; § 85), Leibniz resorts to the somewhat questionable argument that “it all often comes down to circumstances, which form a part of the combination of things” (178; § 100) in which God permits humans to be placed. Leibniz continues by citing a series of examples of such “small circumstances serving to convert or to pervert.” Since this series maps out the historical and thematic scope of my essay, I will quote much of this lengthy passage:

Nothing is more widely known than the Tolle, lege [pick up and read] cry which St. Augustine heard in a neighboring house, when he was pondering on what side he should take among the Christians divided into sects, and saying to himself,

Quod vitae sectabor iter?[What path in life shall I follow?]

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×