Poetry Does Theology : Chaucer, Grosseteste, and the Pearl-Poet
- Author / Editor
- Rhodes, Jim.
Poetry Does Theology : Chaucer, Grosseteste, and the Pearl-Poet
- Published
- Notre Dame, Ind. : University of Notre Dame Press, 2001.
- Physical Description
- xii, 324 pp.
- Description
- Surveys the relationships between theology and poetry in late-medieval writing, assessing how Robert Grosseteste, the Pearl poet, and Chaucer communicate a proto-humanistic perspective, "characterized by a semi-Pelagian, anthropocentric theology" that is "roughly Ockhamist" and "incarnational." This theology "affirms human dignity and the sanctity of the human body." The most secular of the writers considered, Chaucer shows "how theological discourse has been absorbed or internalized" in his narrators. NPT shows that "meaning is in the story and not in the moral tacked onto the text." PrT and SNT reflect differing views on "caritas," chastity, and their interrelations. RvT seeks to redefine "caritas," while PardT challenges the power of theological discourse.
- Chaucer Subjects
- Nun's Priest and His Tale.
- Prioress and Her Tale.
- Second Nun and Her Tale.
- Reeve and His Tale.
- Pardoner and His Tale.