Tobits Dog And The Dangers Of Literalism

During the two centuries following the death of St Francis, the order he had founded produced a remarkable number of Bible commentators of the highest rank. Some of Lyre's successors, however, have been neglected or undervalued in recent scholarship - not least the Oxford Franciscan who is the subject of this chapter, William Woodford (c. 1330-c. 1397). The acuity of Woodford's attack on John Wyclif's literalistic theory of exegesis marks him as one of the most formidable of the evangelical doctor's early opponents. And this academic achievement, inter alia , earns Woodford a place of distinction in the Franciscan hall of fame. As the author's guide in the pursuit of this argument, the chapter enlists the services of a strange but faithful creature - Tobit's dog. Keywords: John Wyclif; literalistic theory of exegesis; Tobit's dog; William Woodford

Argument (complex analysis) · Art · Exegesis · Literature · Political science · Scholarship · Subject (documents) · Theology · Tobit model · Early Modern Women Writers · History · Law · Mathematics · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity · Religious studies