Non in Dialectica

Manfred Hoffmann starts from a twofold constatation. Erasmus rejected the scholastics’ theological method, i.e. the deriving of cogent conclusions from metaphysical principles by syllogistic, dialectical reasoning. In his own “theology” Erasmus reverts to the literary hermeneutics of Classical and patristic “rhetoric”. Hoffmann examines how Erasmus thus constructs a distinct theological framework and a distinct “rhetorical theology”. The present article discusses Hoffmann’s questions about such a theology, especially whether it is theology at all, and if so, at what level of the “systematic”. The article argues that Erasmus ignores an intrinsic and essential element in ancient rhetoric: the systematic intellectual armature of Classical and patristic metaphysics, of which dialectic is the organon or method

Art · Art history · Cicero · Dialectic · Epistemology · Erasmus · Hermeneutics · Linguistics · Literature · Metaphysics · Rhetoric · Rhetorical question · Syllogism · Theology · Historical and Linguistic Studies · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity