The Coherence of Memory: Robert Grosseteste on Confession and the Harmony of Body and Soul.

Gammie, R. (2024) The Coherence of Memory: Robert Grosseteste on Confession and the Harmony of Body and Soul. In: Mind, Soul and the Cosmos in the High Middle Ages. Springer. (In Press)

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Abstract

This chapter establishes confession as an act of harmonious union between body and soul. The emphasis placed on auricular confession in the wake of Lateran IV resulted in a great outpouring of confession manuals: this chapter focuses on those by Robert Grosseteste. By framing confession as a psychological process Grosseteste is able to combine Aristotelian empiricism with the theologically fundamental act of salvation. For Grosseteste, this leads to an unusually positive anthropology, one that starts with a person's actions and, through the act of confession, leads to a deeper, truer knowledge of the self and God, per Augustine's own self-searching in Confessions. The act of confession is thus both the topos for this exploration, the place in which it happens, and also the tool by which it can be carried out. By utilising his own synthesis of Aristotelian notions of experience Grosseteste is able to identify a salvific quality in sensation, in our own experience and interactions with the world, one that reflects the beauty and goodness of humankind in nature.

Item Type:	Book Section
Additional Information:	This is an author accepted manuscript of a book chapter accepted on 17th July 2024 by Springer for publication in Mind, Soul and the Cosmos in the High Middle Ages. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy.
Divisions:	School of Humanities
Depositing User:	Ros Gammie
Date Deposited:	26 Sep 2024 10:27
Last Modified:	26 Sep 2024 10:27
URI:	https://bgro.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/1159

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