Robert Holcot (Great Medieval Thinkers)

✍ Scribed by John T. Slotemaker, Jeffrey C. Witt

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Year: 2016
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 385
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book offers an introduction to the thought of Robert Holcot, a great and influential but often underappreciated medieval thinker. Holcot was a Dominican friar who flourished in the 1330's and produced a diverse body of work including scholastic treatises, biblical commentaries, and sermons. By viewing the whole of Holcot's corpus, John T. Slotemaker and Jeffrey C. Witt provide a comprehensive account of his thought. Challenging established characterizations of him as a skeptic or radical, they show Holcot to be primarily concerned with affirming and supporting the faith of the pious believer. At times, this manifests itself as a cautious attitude toward absolutist claims about the power of natural reason. At other times Holcot reaffirms, in Anselmian fashion, the importance of rational effort in the attempt to understand and live out one's faith.

Over the course of this introduction the authors unpack Holcot's views on faith and heresy, the divine nature and divine foreknowledge, the sacraments, Christ, and political philosophy. They also examine Holcot's approach to several important medieval literary genres, including the development of his unique "picture method," biblical commentaries, and sermons. In so doing, Slotemaker and Witt restore Holcot to his rightful place as one of the most important thinkers of his time.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Series
Robert Holcot
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Series Foreword
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations, Symbols, and Conventions
Introduction: The Life and Works of Robert Holcot
The Life of Robert Holcot
The Writings of Robert Holcot
A Life in Three Stages: A Friar’s Life
The Structure and Argument of the Book
1. Covenantal Theology
Introduction
God’s Covenant and the Ages of History
Holcot’s Obligational Theology and the Ars Obligatoria
The Divine Covenant
The Two Powers
Conclusion
2. On Faith
Introduction
Merit and Divine Acceptatio
Faith and Cognitive Assent
Conclusion
3. Human Knowledge and the Divine Nature
Introduction
Human Reason and the Existence of God
The Triune God
Conclusion
4. God, Creation, and the Future
Introduction
Future Contingents and Divine Foreknowledge
Revelation and Divine Deception
Conclusion
5. The Sacraments: Baptism, Confession, and the Eucharist
Introduction
Baptism
Confession and Penance
Eucharist
Conclusion
6. The Biblical Commentary Tradition
Introduction
The Biblical Commentaries
The Historical Context and Holcot’s Sources
Conclusion
7. The Twelve Prophets
Introduction
Holcot’s Exegesis
The Pictures in Holcot’s Commentary on Nahum
The Development of the Picture Technique
Conclusion
8. The Book of Wisdom
Introduction
The Nature and Style of Holcot’s Commentary on the Book of Wisdom
The Prologue
Holcot’s Book of Wisdom in Outline
Conclusion
9. Holcot’s Political Philosophy
Introduction
The Goal of Life
The State of Innocence and the State of Nature
Laws
Justice and Equity
Authority
Family
Conclusion
10. Late Medieval Preaching
Introduction
The Late Medieval Sermon
The Artes Praedicandi: Preaching Manuals
Conclusion
11. The Moralitates
Introduction
Contextualizing the Moralitates
The Text of the Moralitates
Reading the Moralitates
Conclusion
12. Holcot as Preacher
Introduction
Peterhouse 210: A Systematic Overview
Holcot the Homilist
Conclusion
Appendices
Appendix A: Holcot’s Commentary on the Sentences
Appendix B: The Quodlibetal Questions
Appendix C: The Wisdom Commentary: Dubitationes
Notes
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Secondary Sources
Index