Holy Duplicity: The Preacher's Two Faces

Description: Surveys the "traditions of preaching theory that Chaucer drew on in creating his Parson and Pardoner," focusing on the preacher's paradoxical "persona," the relationship between the "person" and the "office," and the use of the physical body in the performance of spiritual truth. Chaucer's two preachers reflect the paradox in differing ways: the Pardoner's duplicitous single mindedness and the Parson's simple efforts to bridge the earthly/spiritual divide. Waters draws on preaching theories of Maurice of Sully, Humbert of Romans, Thomas of Chobham, and others.