An ear to the Middle Ages
Three experts in medieval sermon studies walk into a Harvard Square bar. One of them says … But this is no joke. Last week, the world’s authorities on centuries-old catechetical discourse gathered at Harvard for “Preaching the Saints,” a conference on the sermons, art, and music of medieval and early modern Europe. If any of them walked into a nearby bar, surely it was to discuss J.B. Schneyer’s “Repertorium der lateinischen Sermones des Mittelalters.” This 11-volume catalog of 100,000 sermons in Latin — a feat of scholarship from 1969 to 1990 — helped inspire the idea of medieval sermon studies, which in turn has helped uncover the social and intellectual currents of the Middle Ages. Until Schneyer, scholars were hobbled by how few sermons had been edited, translated, and prepared for study. Contemporary cataloging projects, like SERMO, continue his work. And researchers still depend on traditional manuscript collections, like those at Harvard’s...