IDEAS • BOOKS • SOCIETY • READINGS PHILOBIBLON Transylvanian Journal Of Multidisciplinary Research in the Humanities IDEAS • BOOKS • SOCIETY • READINGS IDEAS • BOOKS • SOCIETY • READINGS PHILOBIBLON Transylvanian Journal Of Multidisciplinary Research in the Humanities VOL. XXII (2017) NO. 1 EDITORIAL BOARD DIRECTOR DORU RADOSAV EXECUTIVE EDITOR FLORINA ILIS EDITORIAL BOARD IONUȚ COSTEA, ALIN-MIHAI GHERMAN, ALEXANDER BAUMGARTEN ASSISTANT EDITORS EMESE CZINTOS, KATALIN LUFFY EDITORIAL SECRETARY ANCA CHIOREAN EDITORS OF THE ENGLISH TEXT / TRANSLATORS EMESE CZINTOS, ANCA CHIOREAN CONTACT 400006 Cluj-Napoca, Romania, Clinicilor Street no 2 Telephone: + 40-264-59-70-92/137 Fax: + 40-264-59-76-33 Website: www.philobiblon.ro E-mail: [email protected] PERMANENT ADVISORY BOARD Franco ANGIOLINI (University of Pisa), Pál ÁCS (MTA, Budapest), Mihály BALÁZS (University of Szeged), Imre József BALÁZS (BBU Cluj), Andrei BERESCHI (BBU Cluj), Monica BRÎNZEI (IHRT, Paris), Ana Maria CĂPÂLNEANU (CUL Cluj), Elena CHIABURU (Librarian, Iași), Sanda CORDOS (BBU Cluj), Olimpia CURTA (CUL Cluj), Attila DEBRECZENI (University of Debrecen), Emese EGYED (BBU Cluj), Günter FRANK (Europäische Melanchthon- Akademie Bretten), Rodica FRENȚIU (BBU Cluj), Csilla GÁBOR (BBU Cluj), Moshe IDEL (Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Dana JALOBEANU (University of Bucharest), Zsolt KOVÁCS (BBU Cluj), Tamás LÖNHÁRT (BBU Cluj), Mária Magdolna LUPESCU (BBU Cluj), Mihai MAGA (BBU Cluj), Claudiu MESAROȘ (UV Timișoara), Bogdan MINCĂ (University of Bucharest), Boglárka NÉMETH (BBU Cluj), Adrian NIȚĂ (Romanian Academy, Bucharest), Csaba OLAY (ELTE Budapest), Adrian PAPAHAGI (BBU Cluj), Judit PÁL (BBU Cluj), Adrian PODARU (BBU Cluj), Alina PREDA (BBU Cluj), Emese SARKADI-NAGY (Christian Museum of Esztergom), Zsuzsa SELYEM (BBU Cluj), Levente SZABÓ (BBU Cluj), Miklós SZÉKELY (MTA Budapest), László SZÖGI (ELTE Budapest), Alexandru TOFAN (University of Iași), Zsombor TÓTH (MTA Budapest), Virgiliu ȚÂRĂU (BBU Cluj), Mihaela URSA (BBU Cluj) 2 IDEAS • BOOKS • SOCIETY • READINGS CONTENTS VOL. XXII (2017) NO. 1 STUDIES EDITORIAL 5 EMANUEL GROSU, Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis: Allegory of the 7 characters IOANA CURUŢ, Ad eruditionem multorum. The Latin Version of the 19 Book of the Apple as a Philosophical Protreptic CLAUDIU MESAROȘ, On the Meaning of Deliberatio in Saint Gerard of 37 Cenad ALEXANDER BAUMGARTEN, Gerard of Cenad on the Soteriological Value 47 of the Intellectual Practice and the Plurality of Biblical Interpretations OANA-CORINA FILIP, Language as a Unifying Element in John of 59 Salisbury’s Philosophical Treatises VLAD-LUCIAN ILE, Some Remarks on Peter of Spain`s Theory of 75 Suppositio ANDREI-TUDOR MAN, Dissensiones inter viam antiquam et viam 93 modernam: An Edition of the Wrocław, BU, 6130, Milich., II, 78, f. 1-5 Manuscript ANDREI BERESCHI, Petrarch’s Demarcation of Humanism 129 LUCIANA CIOCA, Johannes de Wasia and his Sentences Commentary 149 ANDREEA ALEXANDRA ANISIE, “Imaginative logic”: The role of images in 165 IDEAS • BOOKS • SOCIETY • READINGS Bruno’s arts of invention MÁRIA LUPESCU MAKÓ, The Book Culture of the Dominican Order in 187 Transylvania FLORIN CRÎȘMĂREANU, Suárez’s Influence on Descartes: The Case of 205 Epistle CDXVIII (AT IV 348–350) MIHAI MAGA, Critical Exploration of Medieval Philosophy with Digital 223 Humanities Tools: Challenges and Solutions BOOK REVIEWS CHRISTOPHE GRELLARD and FRÉDÉRIQUE LACHAUD, eds. A Companion to 235 John of Salisbury Reviewed by OANA-CORINA FILIP MARCIA L. COLISH, Faith, Fiction and Force in Medieval Baptismal 236 Debates Reviewed by IOANA CURUȚ CATHERINE KÖNIG-PRALONG, Médiévisme philosophique et raison 239 modern: de Pierre Bayle à Ernest Renan Reviewed by ALEXANDER BAUMGARTEN SANDU FRUNZĂ, Fundamentalismul religios şi noul conflict al 241 ideologiilor (Religious fundamentalism and the new conflict of ideologies) Reviewed by RODICA FRENȚIU 4 IDEAS • BOOKS • SOCIETY • READINGS EDITORIAL In the autumn of 2015, the Centre for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy of the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the Babeş–Bolyai University organised the annual colloquium of the Féderation des Instituts des Etudes Médiévales (FIDEM) on the topic of the “Variety of Readings of Medieval Sources”. The topic was chosen with the purpose of proposing a passage, within the research of medieval theories of interpretation, from a classical analysis based on the four senses of the Scripture (treated by Henri de Lubac in a classic monograph) to the analysis of other medieval approaches of Latin, Greek, Arabic or Hebrew tradition which reflect also on the plurality of source interpretation, the rules of its diversity, and the relations between the truth and the plurality of interpretations. The motto chosen for the colloquium recalls Guillaume de Conches in his glosses on Boethius (Ed. Nauta, p. 202, 90-93): « … de eadem re secundum diversas considerationes diversae inveniuntur expositiones. Sed non est curandum de diversitate expositionum, immo gaudendum, sed de contrarietate si in expositionibus esset ... ». Furthermore, one of the founding texts of medieval philosophy and theology of Latin tradition, Cassiodorus’s Institutiones contains an enthusiastic exclamation regarding the variety of interpretations: “ut expositio multiplicata peritorum copiosam vobis doctrinam et animae felicissimam conferat sospitatem” (Institutiones, I, 3). Nearly eight centuries after this true hermeneutical testament of Cassiodorus, Gregory of Rimini’s theology shows an effort to establish an epistemology of the complexe significabile in order to map the limits of human knowledge and the ways in which man can approach the transcendent object of theology: “Non obstante igitur identitate obiecti, quod est totale significatum conclusionum mentalium diversorum habituum, stat diversitas conclusionum ipsarum” (In librum Sententiarum, Prologus, ed. Trapp, p. 67, l. 10-20). Surprisingly, in this context, Rimini states that the very possibility of the object of theology in its relation with the human mind and language opens up the need for a plurality of interpretations of the Scripture. I have compiled the contributions with the courtesy of the journal Philobiblon which agreed to publish some of the papers presented at the colloquium, together with other studies that focus on the Middle Ages. The order in which the articles are published is conventional, according to the chronology of their subjects, 5 IDEAS • BOOKS • SOCIETY • READINGS but they all represent reflections on the interpretable nature of medieval texts and on the medieval theories on interpretations. Thus, Emanuel Grosu conducts a study on the well-known anonymous Navigatio Sancti Brendani and on the various interpretations of its symbols; Ioana Curuţ offers a view (and many unique occurrences) on the citations and interpretations of the Aristotelian apocrypha Liber de pomo et morte; I and Claudiu Mesaroş approach hermeneutical subjects regarding the editions and the terms used in Gerard of Cenad’s Deliberatio supra hymnum trium puerorum. Oana-Corina Filip and Vlad-Lucian Ile analyse semantic theories regarding John of Salisbury and Petrus Hispanus, while Andrei-Tudor Man offers a commentary and an edition of some quaestiunculae which summarise the philosophical issues of the 9th century in Erfurt. Andrei Bereschi approaches the subjects of Petrarca’s hermeneutics and Alexandra Anisie has a similar approach to Giordano Bruno’s philosophy. Luciana Cioca’s research on Johannes de Wasia offers a unique fragment of the tradition of sentences. Maria Lupescu and Florin Crîşmăreanu focus on the late Middle Ages, on their effects on early modernity or on the divergent chronologies of Central Europe. Due to its methodological value, I have placed Mihai Maga’s approach on medieval studies from the viewpoint of digital humanities last. Most of the studies compiled here illustrate the recent preoccupations of the community of researchers from the aforementioned Centre for Ancient and Medieval Philosophy. ALEXANDER BAUMGARTEN Issue Editor 6 IDEAS • BOOKS • SOCIETY • READINGS NAVIGATIO SANCTI BRENDANI ABBATIS: ALLEGORY OF THE CHARACTERS EMANUEL GROSU Abstract Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis – a work whose manuscripts date to the 10th century – describes the voyage undertaken by Saint Brendan of Clonfert (cca 484–577) to find the so-called “Promised Land of the Saints”. Thus, the anonymous author of this writing reiterates a commonplace of classical literature, which he revisits from a Christian pastoral perspective: the mythical place of ancient Greek and Latin literature is now depicted as Terra Repromissionis Sanctorum, thus a place destined to those who follow Christian teachings and the lifestyle promoted by them. The entire imaginary of this Navigatio... is constructed starting from both classical and Christian sources, within an osmosis of symbols, literary motifs, and philosophical topics through which the author aims to turn his work into a writing meant to be read by both Christians and those not affiliated to the Church. In my study, I propose an analysis of some of the characters (individual or collective) within Navigatio... My hypothesis is that, similarly to other aspects of the work, it does not exhaust its meaning from the narrative perspective, because characters can be interpreted from the perspective of the fundamental themes of the Christian doctrines. Obviously, the interpretation I propose does not exclude others, while sometimes this view seems to be confirmed by corresponding excerpts