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Homiliae seu Sermones in Evangelia, tam de tempore quam de sanctis... per Divum Ioannem Thaulerum, clarissimum theologum, a Divo Laurentio Surio egregie docto, summa cura recogniti (Lyon: Sebastien Honorat, 1557) .

This volume contains the sermons of the Dominican mystical preacher, Johann Tauler (†1361). Tauler preached these sermons in German throughout the Rhineland, teaching such mystical doctrines as the birth of the eternal Word in the soul, which he had learned from Meister Eckhart, O.P. (†1327 or 1328). In light of the condemnation of Eckhart, Tauler mitigated some of the Master's more daring mystical teachings.

Tauler's German sermons were translated into Latin by Laurentius Surius (1552-78) of the Charterhouse of St. Barbara in Cologne. Surius made a speciality of translating the "Rhineland mystics," including Jan van Ruusbroec, and he was a primary channel of their teachings in the Counter-Reformation. Some of the sermons translated by Surius and printed in this edition, attributed to Tauler, are in fact by Meister Eckhart, giving his teaching an afterlife in the Counter-Reformation, with no small consequences. The edition also includes a Life of Tauler drawn from materials of Iohannes Trithemius (1462-1516), Benedictine monk of Sponheim, encyclopedic cataloguer of medieval theological literature, connoisseur of manuscripts, magus and master of cryptology.

The date when the book was bound, 1567, is branded into the cover of the book, with the initials IGH. Dated bindings are a rarity so early in the history of the book.

References: Baudrier 4: 172; Kaeppeli no 2688.

Catalogue No. 51
Call Number: Rare Books BV 5080 .T191sl
   Catalog Record

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