1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910464951303321

Autore

Novikoff Alex J

Titolo

The medieval culture of disputation : pedagogy, practice, and performance / / Alex J. Novikoff

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Philadelphia : , : University of Pennsylvania Press, , [2013]

©2013

ISBN

0-8122-0863-3

Edizione

[First edition.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (336 p.)

Collana

The Middle Ages series

Disciplina

909/.1

Soggetti

Dialogue - History - To 1500

Debates and debating - Europe - History - To 1500

Religious disputations - Europe - History - To 1500

Academic disputations - Europe - History - To 1500

Scholasticism - Europe - History - To 1500

Learning and scholarship - Europe - History - Medieval, 500-1500

Civilization, Medieval - 13th century

Civilization, Medieval - 12th century

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographies and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Introduction -- Chapter 1. The Socratic Inheritance -- Chapter 2. Anselm, Dialogue, and the Rise of Scholastic Disputation -- Chapter 3. Scholastic Practices of the Twelfth-Century Renaissance -- Chapter 4. Aristotle and the Logic of Debate -- Chapter 5. The Institutionalization of Disputation: Universities, Polyphony, and Preaching -- Chapter 6. Drama and Publicity in Jewish-Christian Disputations -- Conclusions: The Medieval Culture of Disputation -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index of Works -- General index -- Acknowledgments

Sommario/riassunto

Scholastic disputation, the formalized procedure of debate in the medieval university, is one of the hallmarks of intellectual life in premodern Europe. Modeled on Socratic and Aristotelian methods of argumentation, this rhetorical style was refined in the monasteries of



the early Middle Ages and rose to prominence during the twelfth-century Renaissance. Strict rules governed disputation, and it became the preferred method of teaching within the university curriculum and beyond. In The Medieval Culture of Disputation, Alex J. Novikoff has written the first sustained and comprehensive study of the practice of scholastic disputation and of its formative influence in multiple spheres of cultural life. Using hundreds of published and unpublished sources as his guide, Novikoff traces the evolution of disputation from its ancient origins to its broader impact on the scholastic culture and public sphere of the High Middle Ages. Many examples of medieval disputation are rooted in religious discourse and monastic pedagogy: Augustine's inner spiritual dialogues and Anselm of Bec's use of rational investigation in speculative theology laid the foundations for the medieval contemplative world. The polemical value of disputation was especially exploited in the context of competing Jewish and Christian interpretations of the Bible. Disputation became the hallmark of Christian intellectual attacks against Jews and Judaism, first as a literary genre and then in public debates such as the Talmud Trial of 1240 and the Barcelona Disputation of 1263. As disputation filtered into the public sphere, it also became a key element in iconography, liturgical drama, epistolary writing, debate poetry, musical counterpoint, and polemic. The Medieval Culture of Disputation places the practice and performance of disputation at the nexus of this broader literary and cultural context.