Abstract

FISCHER, María Raquel. A PRAYER THAT CREATES A SCENARIO. HERMENEUTICS OF SAINT ANSELM'S ORATIO AD DEUM. Theol. Xave. [online]. 2008, vol.58, n.165, pp.127-154. ISSN 0120-3649.

This paper deals with the Anselmian Corpus spirituale, constituted by nineteen prayers and three meditations. Written in the course of twenty years, these texts collect and celebrate as a perennial homage the giving itself of the human spirit to the sources of transcendence. The introduction points to the characteristics of this language of prayer. Then it considers the style and the method that help to understand the Corpus. In the central section the Oratio ad Deum, written between 1103 and 1105, is analysed. The conclusions point to Anselm's figure among those theologians who see the need of seeking a verbal expression to their speculative work as much as to their innermost spiritual life. For that reason the language is at the service of a pedagogical intention, and the reader is not left out of the spiritual climate that accompanies that language. It is an itinerary that continually invites to the transformation of one's own attitude.

Keywords : Soul; ontology; language; prayer; community.

        · abstract in Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )