IMC 2016: Sessions
Session 538: The Dominican Order, I: Innovations of the Dominican Order
Tuesday 5 July 2016, 09.00-10.30
| Sponsor: | Institut zur Erforschung der Geschichte des Dominikanerordens im deutschen Sprachraum (IGDom), Köln |
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| Organisers: | Elias H. Füllenbach, Institut zur Erforschung der Geschichte des Dominikanerordens im deutschen Sprachraum, Dominikanerprovinz Teutonia e.V., Köln Sabine von Heusinger, Fachgruppe Geschichte und Soziologie, Universität Konstanz |
| Moderator/Chair: | Cornelia Linde, German Historical Institute, London |
| Paper 538-a | The Dominican Order and the Book at the Early Universities (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Philosophy |
| Paper 538-b | The Vision of Christ: Crucifixion and the Eucharist in 13th-Century Dominican Writing (Language: English) Index terms: Ecclesiastical History, Monasticism |
| Abstract | The papal confirmation of Dominic's community of preachers in Toulouse 800 years ago in 1216 led to the expansion of the Friars Preachers within the Christian world and beyond. The panels want to shed new light on central topics of Dominican existence during the Middle Ages, namely Dominican identity and Dominican innovations. Other important themes like the order's contribution to scholasticism are touched briefly, too. The dark side of the Dominicans, namely the inquisition, is not to be neglected. Finally the 'reformation before the reformation' via the observant movement sheds again an interesting light on Dominican identity and the power of Dominican innovation. The context of an important jubilee necessitates an historical and critical approach to the Middle Ages as the heyday of the Dominican order. The order is characterized by a function - preaching - and less by its founder Dominic. The Dominican order has made an important contribution to medieval theology and spirituality. This panel deals with the innovative potential of the Friars Preachers. The Dominicans played, for example, a central role in the emergence of scholastic reading and the production of books needed for its practice. The contents presented needed an adequate didactic form, i.e. teaching skills, that got the message across. Preaching in a vernacular lay culture, the sight of Christ, either present in the Eucharist or visible on the Cross, was central to the Dominican preaching experience. |