Book contents
- Literary Theory and Criticism in the Later Middle Ages
- Literary Theory and Criticism in the Later Middle Ages
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations and Conventions
- The Career and Contributions of Alastair Minnis
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Access through Accessus
- Chapter 2 Scholastic Theory and Vernacular Knowledge
- Chapter 3 Poetics and Biblical Hermeneutics in the Thirteenth Century
- Chapter 4 Robert Holcot and De vetula
- Chapter 5 The Inspired Commentator
- Chapter 6 Guitar Lessons at Blackfriars
- Chapter 7 The Re-cognition of Doctrinal Discourse and Scholastic Literary Theory
- Chapter 8 Arts of Love and Justice
- Chapter 9 The Many Sides of Personification
- Chapter 10 Encountering Vision
- Chapter 11 George Colvile’s Translation of the Consolation of Philosophy
- Chapter 12 When Did the Emotions Become Political?
- Bibliography of the Works of Alastair Minnis
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 5 - The Inspired Commentator
Theories of Interpretive Authority in the Writings of Richard Rolle
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 April 2023
- Literary Theory and Criticism in the Later Middle Ages
- Literary Theory and Criticism in the Later Middle Ages
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Preface and Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations and Conventions
- The Career and Contributions of Alastair Minnis
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Access through Accessus
- Chapter 2 Scholastic Theory and Vernacular Knowledge
- Chapter 3 Poetics and Biblical Hermeneutics in the Thirteenth Century
- Chapter 4 Robert Holcot and De vetula
- Chapter 5 The Inspired Commentator
- Chapter 6 Guitar Lessons at Blackfriars
- Chapter 7 The Re-cognition of Doctrinal Discourse and Scholastic Literary Theory
- Chapter 8 Arts of Love and Justice
- Chapter 9 The Many Sides of Personification
- Chapter 10 Encountering Vision
- Chapter 11 George Colvile’s Translation of the Consolation of Philosophy
- Chapter 12 When Did the Emotions Become Political?
- Bibliography of the Works of Alastair Minnis
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The mystic and hermit Richard Rolle (d. 1349) claimed the authority to interpret biblical texts, to add his understandings of their meanings to the received and authoritative interpretations of the Fathers of the Church. This chapter takes up the question of how Rolle understood his own authority as an exegete and how his various explorations of this topic, across his many writings, in Latin and Middle English, compare to the theories of his contemporaries in Oxford and Cambridge, their understandings of how scholastic exegetical authority relates to the inspiration enjoyed by patristic interpreters and, ultimately, to the authors of the Bible itself. Rolle’s theoretical musings have much more in common with this scholastic material than has previously been appreciated, putting pressure on unfortunately persistent binaries of the devotional, affective or mystical, on the one hand, and, on the other, the scholastic or intellectual traditions of medieval Christianity.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Literary Theory and Criticism in the Later Middle AgesInterpretation, Invention, Imagination, pp. 94 - 115Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023