The Thought of Gregory the Great (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series, Series Number 2)

Gregory the Great was, after Augustine of Hippo, perhaps the most influential of the Fathers in the Latin West during the Middle Ages. He put Augustine's thought into a form which proved accessible and acceptable to mediaeval readers, and he added much of his own, notably in his preaching, in which he interpreted the Bible with equal emphasis on the practical living of a good Christian life and the aspiration of the soul towards God and the life to come. This study looks at Gregory's thought as a whole and tries to show what was most important to him and the way he arrived at a balance between the active and the contemplative, the 'outward' and the 'inward' in his own mind. There is a tailpiece on the influence of his ideas in later centuries. CONTENTS......Page 4 PREFACE......Page 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 8 ABBREVIATIONS......Page 9 INTRODUCTION......Page 12 GREGORY'S LIFE......Page 14 GREGORY'S WORLD OF THOUGHT......Page 18 PART I CONSIDERATION......Page 28 PART II TALK OF GOD......Page 38 GREGORY'S WORLD OF DISCOURSE......Page 40 LANGUAGE......Page 47 SIGNS, PROPHECY AND MIRACLES......Page 52 SPECULATIVE THEOLOGY......Page 66 MORAL THEOLOGY......Page 80 THE ART OF PREACHING......Page 86 THE PREACHER......Page 91 EXEGESIS......Page 98 PART III INWARD AND OUTWARD: SPIRITUALITY IN THE WORLD......Page 108 LIGHT AND SILENCE......Page 110 CONTEMPLATION AND ACTION......Page 116 MONASTIC ORDER......Page 123 RECTUS ORDO......Page 128 THE BISHOP......Page 134 DIVISION......Page 141 CONCLUSION......Page 154 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 166 INDEX......Page 173 rGgero yht erGae taw,sa tfreA gusuiteno fiHpp,op reahspt ehm so tnilfeutnai lfot ehF taehsri nht eaLit neWtsd runi ght eiMddelA eg.sH eup tuAugtsni'e shtuohg tniota f ro mhwci hrpvodea ccseislb ena dcaectpbaelt oemideaav lerdare,sa dnh edaed dumhco fih swo,nn tobayli nih srpaehcni,gw eherh enietpreret dht eiBlb eiwhte uqlae pmahis snot ehp artccilal vini gfoa g oo dhCirtsai nilefa dnt eha psritaoi nfot ehs uo lotawdr soG dna dht eileft oocem.Tih stsdu yolko staG erogyrs't ohgutha s ahwlo ena drtei sots oh whwtaw sam so tmioptrna toth mia dnt ehw yah erairev dtaa b lanaecb teewnet eha tcvi ena dht eoctnmelptavi,et eh' uowtra'da dnt eh' niawdr 'nih sio nwm ni.dT eheri s aatliipce enot ehi fnulneeco fih sdiae snil tarec neutirse. CONTENTS 4 PREFACE 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 8 ABBREVIATIONS 9 INTRODUCTION 12 GREGORY'S LIFE 14 GREGORY'S WORLD OF THOUGHT 18 PART I CONSIDERATION 28 PART II TALK OF GOD 38 GREGORY'S WORLD OF DISCOURSE 40 LANGUAGE 47 SIGNS, PROPHECY AND MIRACLES 52 SPECULATIVE THEOLOGY 66 MORAL THEOLOGY 80 THE ART OF PREACHING 86 THE PREACHER 91 EXEGESIS 98 PART III INWARD AND OUTWARD: SPIRITUALITY IN THE WORLD 108 LIGHT AND SILENCE 110 CONTEMPLATION AND ACTION 116 MONASTIC ORDER 123 RECTUS ORDO 128 THE BISHOP 134 DIVISION 141 CONCLUSION 154 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 166 INDEX 173 978-0-521-30904-2,Hardback,9780521368261,Paperback Cambridge University Press Gregory the Great interpreted the Bible with equal emphasis on the practical living of the good Christian life and the aspiration of the soul towards God and the life to come. This study looks at his thought as a whole, and the way he arrived at a balance between the archive and the way he arrived at a balance between the active and the contemplative.