7/25/2019 Biblical Epic

1/2

International Society for the History of Rhetoric and University of California Press are collaborating with JSTOR todigitize, preserve and extend access to Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric.

http://www.jstor.org

Review: Biblical Epic and Rhetorical Paraphrase in Late AntiquityAuthor(s): Thomas ConleyReview by: Thomas Conley

Source: Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Autumn 1986), p. 423Published by: on behalf of theUniversity of California Press International Society for theHistory of RhetoricStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/rh.1986.4.4.423.1Accessed: 01-01-2016 01:38 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content

in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

This content downloaded from 142.150.190.39 on Fri, 01 Jan 2016 01:38:12 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/http://www.jstor.org/publisher/ucalhttp://www.jstor.org/publisher/ishrhttp://www.jstor.org/publisher/ishrhttp://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/rh.1986.4.4.423.1http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/rh.1986.4.4.423.1http://www.jstor.org/publisher/ishrhttp://www.jstor.org/publisher/ishrhttp://www.jstor.org/publisher/ucalhttp://www.jstor.org/

7/25/2019 Biblical Epic

2/2

REV IEWS

Thomas Conley

BibUcal Epic and Rhetorical Paraphrase in Late Antiquity by

Michael Roberts, ARCA: Classical and Mediaeval

Texts,

Liverpool

(Francis Cairns, 1985), pp.x-l-253.

Roberts here traces the influences of the Classical rhetorical exercize

otpararphrasis/metaphrasis cf.,e.g.,Theon,Progymrmsmata62.Wfi. Spengel)

on mediaeval biblical paraphrase, particularly as exempUfied by the hex

ameter versions of biblical texts by such writers as SeduUus, Marius

Victorius, and Avitus. After he devotes two chapters to the ancient theory

and practice of the paraphrase as it can be found in sources from Plato (of

Homer) to Late Antiquity (including some papyrus texts from the Fourth

and Fifth Centuries discussed in this context for the first time), Roberts

considers in detaU the Christian assimilation of the method of paraphrase

and amplification of biblical narratio. Paraphrase stands roughly halfway

between grammatical commentary and preaching. This book thus helps to

fiU a gap in our understanding of how patristic and mediaeval scholars

went about generating the latter from the former. What is now needed is a

comparable study on mediaeval Greek sources, which are plentiful but

largely ignored.

JohannesTauler:

Sermons

translated by Maria Shrady, The Classics

of Western SpirituaUty, New York andToronto,PaulistPress:1985.

pp. xvi-l-183.$9.95 (paper).

Tauler (c. 1300-1361) was a German Domincan preacher most famous

perhaps as an interpreter and propagator of the teachings of Meister

Eckhardt. Shrady has used Hoffmann's 1961 edition of the sermons* in

her presentation of twenty-three of Tauler's sermons. Of the three great

preachers in the mystical tradition in mediaeval Germany (Eckhardt, c.

1260-1328; Heinrich Suso, 1295-1366; and Tauler), Tauler is probably the

* Georg Hoffmann,

JohannesTauler Predigten

I,

Vollstdndige Ausgabe

(Einsiedeln,

1961 .Hoffmann, in tum, translates into Modem German from the original Middle

High German.

4 3

This content downloaded from 142.150.190.39 on Fri, 01 Jan 2016 01:38:12 UTCAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp