The Evangelical Rhetoric of Ramon Llull Lay Learning and Piety in the Christian West Around 1300

by Johnston, Mark D.

• ISBN13: 9780195090055
• ISBN10: 0195090055
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-02-29
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Ramon Llull (1232-1316), born on Majorca, was one of the most remarkable lay intellectuals of the thirteenth century. He devoted much of his life to promoting missions among unbelievers, the reform of Western Christian society, and personal spiritual perfection. He wrote over 200 philosophical and theological works in Catalan, Latin, and Arabic. Many of these expound on his "Great Universal Art of Finding Truth," an idiosyncratic dialectical system that he thought capable of proving Catholic beliefs to non-believers. This study offers the first full-length analysis of his theories about rhetoric and preaching, which were central to his evangelizing activities. It explains how Llull attempted to synthesize commonplace advice about courtly speech and techniques of popular sermons into a single program for secular and sacred eloquence that would necessarily promote love of God and neighbor. Llull's work is a remarkable testimony to the diffusion of clerical culture among educated lay-people of his era, and to their enthusiasm for applying that knowledge in pursuit of learning and piety. This book should find a place on the shelf of every scholar of medieval history, religion, and rhetoric.

Author Biography

Marl D. Johnston was Professor of Spanish at Illinois State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. vii
Note on References and Quotations	p. xi
Introduction	p. 3
Ramon Llull's Art of Arts	p. 12
Lannguage as Being	p. 34
Language in Mind	p. 48
Invention	p. 70
Beauty in Language	p. 83
Beauty Through Resemblance	p. 100
Order	p. 117
Propriety in Speaking	p. 130
Virtue in Speaking	p. 140
Llull's Sermons	p. 157
Conclusion	p. 180
Notes	p. 190
Works Cited	p. 220
Index	p. 261
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