한국서양중세사학회

One of the central features in the medieval history of western rhetoric is the Christianization of the classical rhetoric. The core of the justification of the secular rhetoric for the Christian end consists in the fact that the Holy Scripture is written in the manner of rhetorical speech, and thus learning rhetoric helps in understanding the true teachings of the Bible. The Christianization of the classical rhetoric culminates in the program of lectio divina (prayerful reading of the Bible) in the monastery, which was practically the only institution for the education and culture in Western Latin world since 5th century. As an orthopraxis of monastic life, lectio divina realizes the Christian ideal of morality, which is guided and formed by rhetorical precepts. This function of the 'monastic rhetoric' as the moral principle of everyday practices is to be regarded as the explicit formulation of the assumption implicit in the classical rhetoric, namely the education of a good man through the rhetorical practices. As is generally known, the modern rhetoric does not accept the Christian end. The question is whether this attitude implies the refusal of the moral justification of the rhetoric too. If the modern rhetoric denies the moral justification unlike the medieval rhetoric, it is worthwhile to question whether the alleged 'decrease' of the modern rhetoric is due to this refusal.