A study of the spiritual themes in the prayers and passion narration of Ludolphus de Saxonia's Vita Jesu Christi

Inhoud
I. The life and work of Ludolf of Saxony
1. The life of Ludolf
- Ludolf's Dominican background
- The location and date of the Vita's composition
- The date of Ludolf's death
2.Ludolf's Carthusian religious heritage
- The life of St. Bruno
- Carthusian religious life
- The Church situation in the fourtenth century
3. The work of Ludolf
- Contents of the Vita
- The audience of the Vita
- The Latin editions and translations of the Vita
4. The Vita's assimilation of patristic and medieval quotations
5. Ludolf's exegetical methodology
II. A comparative study of the spiritual themes from the passion narration of the Meditationes Vitae Christi and the Vita Christi
1. The meditative method and image of the suffering Christ in the passion narration of the Meditationes Vitae Christi
- Meditationes Vitae Christi, introduction
- Method of meditation in the passion narration of the Meditationes Vitae Christi
- Image of the suffering Christ in the passion of the Meditationes
2. The medieval context for the spiritual themes of the Meditationes
3. The meditative method and image of the suffering Christ in the passion narration of the Vita Jesu Christi
- Method of meditation in the passion narration of the Vita: the role of imagination in the meditative process, the role of emotions in the meditative process, liturgical piety as a means of union with the suffering Christ, the passion as relevant to the problems of the fourteenth century, the passion narration's view of the world (the correct disposition toward all that is not divine)
- Image of the suffering Christ in the passion narration of the Vita: the theme of Christ's physical torments in the passion, the theme of Christ's pychological torments in the passion, the theme of Christ's divinity in the passion, the theme of Christ's virtues in the passion
III. A study of the spiritual themes from the prayers of the Vita Jesu Christi
1. The addresses of the prayers
- Mary: virgin and mother of Jesus
- St. John the Baptist: model and precursor of Christ
- Christ: divine and human
2. The condition of the one who prays: the wretchedness of man and the world turned from God
- Man in sin
- The world as a place of temptation
3. The petition of the prayers: the grace of Christ
- Man's need and desire for grace
- The nature of grace
- Human freedom which cooperates with grace
- The healing effects of grace: union with God and rejection of the world, grace as productive of enlightening faith, grace as productive of e deeper union with the life of the church, grace as productive of virtue
4. The eschatological goal of the prayers: the last things
- Death and judgment in the payers
- Man's longing for heaven
- The heaven motif of the prayers
5. Summary
Conclusion
Appendixes
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