Rethinking "Continuity": Erasmus' Ecclesiastes and the Artes Praedicandi

• Published in: Renaissance and Reformation Vol. 33; no. 4; pp. 5 - 24
• Main Authors: Kilcoyne, Francis P., Jennings, Margaret
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-10-1997
• ISSN: 0034-429X; 2293-7374
• DOI: 10.33137/rr.v33i4.11372

Erasmus' "radical orientation towards continuities," coupled with a series of congruent physical and philosophical circumstances, suggests a possible relationship between certain medieval artes praedicandi and the Ecclesiastes sive de Ratione Concionandi. By exploring the parallels between these texts, especially in the areas of sermon structure and function, the meaning of amplification and allegory, and specifically used terminology, this study extends the parameters of continuity by allowing the earlier allusive material to enrich one's understanding of the great Renaissance sermon manual. Thus, Erasmus' achievement can be viewed, not as a miraculous aberration, but as part of a long and variegated preaching tradition.