Preface

      “Jacob saw a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, on which angels were ascending and descending,” writes Alan of Lille at the beginning of his Summa de arte praedicatoria. Later he interprets this image as one of preaching: “for preaching instructs now in divine matters, now in morals, which is signified by the angels ascending and descending. For the angels are preachers, who ascend when they preach heavenly things; descend, when through moral sayings they adapt themselves to those below them.” Alan’s image nicely captures the dual nature of the preacher’s task, reflected also in the title of this book. As God’s messengers, preachers did indeed take the role of angels, and their awareness of the exaltation of that position is evident in Alan’s lofty image. As angels whose task was to speak with earthly creatures, they had a duty to their audiences that required them at times to descend from the heights, to make their doctrine accessible to those “below them.” But the idea that, in descending, preachers must conform themselves to those they address is a reminder that, for all their angelic office, these speakers of heavenly things were themselves as earthbound as their audiences were.

      This book considers the ways in which preachers dealt with their situation as angels and earthly creatures, as the human embodiments of doctrine. Although the pedagogical elements of the preacher’s task were not the first object of my study when I began this project, it has been a pleasure to trace the elements and expectations of the medieval consideration of teaching as an embodied task, and the meditations of the theorists discussed below on the fallibility of authoritative bodies often took on an unexpectedly topical cast. This continuing relevance should not have surprised me; we may sometimes think of preaching as an abstract or detached activity, but these texts are a reminder of how immediate and personal a task teaching is. They offer a salutary demonstration of the commitment these medieval authors had to making their instruction come alive, in and through their words and actions, for their audiences. The preaching literature of the Middle Ages has come to seem to me less a series of precepts laid down from on high than a continuing conversation—between medieval theorists and their classical and patristic predecessors, between preaching texts and the genres that overlapped with them, and between preachers and their audiences—about how the Word of God might be disseminated on earth.

      In this context, it is a pleasure to acknowledge the many people whose teaching and conversation have enriched this project throughout its development. Barbara Newman, herself no mean preacher, has shown unfailing generosity and encouragement all along the way; my debts to her are beyond expression here. Beverly Kienzle and Becky Krug, with exceptional kindness, each read the entire manuscript at very different moments in its evolution and offered invaluable commentary. Others who provided welcome feedback on various chapters include Dorothy Chansky, Jennifer Kolpacoff, Larry Scanlon, Fiona Somerset, and Nicholas Watson. They and audiences who heard and responded to papers based on this work helped to spur my thinking and shape the final manuscript. To them, Alastair Minnis, and an anonymous press reader I owe many improvements, as well as the admission that sometimes I have declined to take their excellent advice, no doubt to my cost.

      I feel very fortunate to have had, throughout the creation of this book, wonderful colleagues; chief among those who read, discussed, encouraged, and challenged are Cynthia Baule, Seeta Chaganti, and Sally Poor. The last in particular I thank not only for more readings of various pieces than either of us can remember but also for innumerable discussions of topics all along the range of Jacob’s ladder.

      I am grateful for an extremely productive and enjoyable month at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center, which was instrumental in the final shaping of this project, and also for the financial assistance offered by research grants from Northwestern University and the University of New Mexico. The offices of Vice Chancellor for Research Barry Klein and Dean Elizabeth Langland at the University of California, Davis, have generously supported the publication of this book, and I am happy to be able to acknowledge their help here. Parts of Chapters