Logo DBNL
The Modern Devotion (1968)

The Modern Devotion

(1968)–R.R. Post–rechtenstatus Auteursrechtelijk beschermd

Confrontation with Reformation and Humanism


Vorige Volgende

S. Meditation and Philosophy

There are still two shorter works which make a more pleasing impression, expressions of Groote's inner life and of his theological-philosophical concepts and ideals. These are the Tractatus de quattuor generibus meditationum sive contemplationum or sermo de nativitate domini2 and the ‘Moral Address’.3 The first work, which is called Tractatus or Sermo has something of both. It begins as a sermon on the text: Parvulus nobis natus est, sketches the greatness and humiliation of the new-born Christ child and exhorts to humility. It then however, develops into a treatise completely unsuitable for a sermon, since it is not intended to be heard and is difficult to understand even as a written piece. Neither is it a treatise on the four kinds of meditation considered as four methods, - as it has been classed -, but rather a critical estimation of the value and utility of the essential sources for the event of Christmas in Bethlehem, of the cogitabilia. The author distinguishes four groups: the canonical scriptures, independent revelation, the exposition of the doctors and what has been added to this by human imagination.

He deals first with the value of the last mentioned, human imagination - in this case the clear representation of the persons, their outward appearance and their clothes. This can be very useful for the person meditating, but too much value should not be attached to it. It must be constantly borne in mind that it is imagination and not really

present. The largest section of the treatise, 20 out of the 50 pages, is devoted to the Holy Scriptures as a source of meditation. Distinguishing between the texts of the Old and New Testaments he gives his opinion that the former, which refer directly to Christ's birth and are designated as such by the New Testament, must be accepted de fide. Not everything in the afore-mentioned texts, however, need have happened literally, for example the presence of the ox and the ass from Isaiah, the fall of the idols during Christ's flight into Egypt. Groote explains these texts from an entirely spiritual standpoint and, interpreted in this way, they may contain truth.

We must accept the texts of the New Testament, but they do demand some explanation on our part, without which we know nothing of the external appearance of the persons involved. We must even already possess the concepts of virgo and to bear and here again not only we are exercising our imagination but generally speaking the value of human concepts has to be taken into account. This passage gives us an important insight into Groote's views on the practice of philosophy in his day. I reproduce it here as set down in the sermon (treatise)

Heu, quam malesuadi ex hoc hodie iuvenculi ex persona Aristotilis vel alterius philosophi, quem mente magnifice extollunt, plurima que vix ymmo antequam medullultus intelligant sibi suadent et persuadent ex sola persona dicentis. Sed hoc hodie magnum unum impedimentum philosophie est, quod oritur ex reflectione intelligibilium ad dicentem et ad eorum circumstantias. Aliud vero hoc in philosophia maius et communius est impedimentum, quia omnes iuxta primum modum, cum de rerum essenciis, naturis, quidditatibus, materia, forma, generibus et speciebus tractant, mente non in re, sed pro maiori parte in formis litterarum versantur. Sic fateor me diu valde philosophatum etc.1.

The translation reads as follows:2

 

‘Alas, how misguided are the young people to-day, that they, depending solely on the personal word of Aristotle or of another philosopher whom they personally esteem very highly, persuade and convince themselves of many opinions which they scarcely understand, or indeed even before they have penetrated to the heart of them - solely on account of the person who expresses them.

But this to-day is only one great hindrance to philosophy; it arises from the fact that when reflecting on the intelligible, people take ac-

count of such an incidental thing as another's pronouncements on the subject.

There is, however, another greater and more widespread hindrance - and this lies in philosophy itself - namely that apart from the first mentioned method of philosophizing, all students of philosophy, when concerning themselves with the essentials of things, their natures, quiddities, their matter and form, and their genera and species, do not direct their minds to reality but for the greater part only to the verbal expressions themselves. I must confess that I philosophized in this manner for a very long time.’

Groote rejects two things: first the rash following of Aristotle or others; secondly Nominalism, which Groote first supported and now rejects. On these grounds we must assume that during his student-period in Paris (1355-68) Groote became acquainted with the Nominalism quite current there and that he convinced himself then generally speaking of its rightness for the approach to reality and had a high opinion of the value of human knowledge. When he grew older, however, he rejected this system and returned to the via antiqua.

He does indeed refer to his own philosophy two pages back - dico secundum modum mee philosophye. That in later times he supported realism and opposed nominalism is confirmed by his repeated reference to Thomas Aquinas - admittedly in more ethical and dogmatic questions - while the name of Ockham or of other nominalists does not occur in his works. Some have thought, on the grounds of extremely vague reasoning and the resemblance of the first word of the name Modern Devotion to via moderna - that Groote must have supported the via moderna in philosophy and theology. In the passage quoted above he clearly states the opposite.

Groote devotes only one paragraph to each of the second and third key sources for the event of Christmas. The second are the so-called private revelations. They may exist and they may be useful but one must examine critically by whom and under what circumstances they were given.

The third source - everything based on the assertions of authorities, on reasonable seeming reasoning or upon the triumphant intellect; all this offers possibilities. They must be carefully weighed up and critized and if possible rendered free of errors.1

By now it will be evident that not much remains here of a Christmas

sermon, nor of a description of the four methods of meditation. These passages certainly cannot serve to show that as early as the very beginning of Modern Devotion, the exercise which was later called ‘methodical meditation’ was already in existence. The treatise is a kind of criteriological dissertation - the only one, indeed, we possess of Groote. It gives an evaluation of biblical texts, particular revelations, learned guesses and in general, of human imagination for our knowledge of some particular event, i.e. of what occurred in Bethlehem.


Vorige Volgende