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Document Details : Title: The Beauty of Monastic Life (Imitatio Christi, I.17) Subtitle: The Imitatio Christi from an Aesthetical Perspective Author(s): DE VILLIERS, Pieter G.R. Journal: Ons Geestelijk Erf Volume: 91 Issue: 3-4 Date: 2021 Pages: 352-384 DOI: 10.2143/OGE.91.3.3289675 Abstract : This essay contributes to a growing trend in the religious discourse that investigates the decisive role of form and function in interpreting texts, reflecting the influence of and interaction with aesthetics as a discipline. Its first, theoretical part explores existing research on the aesthetical nature of the Imitatio Christi. In a second, applied part, a close reading provides an example of an aesthetical interpretation, focusing on chapter I.17. It spells out the skillful use of a multitude of literary devices and their integration in a coherent whole to form an intricate composition with a lyrical, poetic quality. At the same time it shows how this aesthetical analysis illuminates the social function of the chapter that aims at guiding its readers spiritually. The author carefully systematized his material in two main parts, focusing in the first part on the challenges of the monastic life and in the second part on the mystical nature of the monastic life. The third part of this essay interprets this textual analysis with its rich contents from a spiritual point of view by discussing its main emphasis on the mystical nature of the monastic life as the guiding principle of this chapter’s composition. Through such an aesthetic analysis and close reading tendentious interpretations of a text that are based on selective, fragmentary textual readings are avoided. |
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