From Words to Deeds: The Effectiveness of Preaching in the Late Middle Ages ed. by Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli (review)

The studies in this volume have resulted from a conference held in 2010 at the Università di Bologna exploring the relationship between words and deeds in late medieval preaching. As Maria Giuseppina Muzzarelli explains in her Introduction, the principle aim of the conference was to open a collective dialogue on the effectiveness of preaching by exploring the ‘fruits’ borne of late medieval sermons.

The volume is separated into two thematic parts. Part I examines religious communication by exploring the efficacy of preachers’ words and speech, while Part II explores how preaching affected society more broadly. Although the book’s title does not indicate it, this collection focuses almost exclusively—there are only a few exceptions—on preaching in Italy, with the majority of contributions concerned with the Franciscan Observance. This volume, therefore, will be of primary interest to scholars specialising in late medieval and early modern Italian preaching.

Although the collection of articles appears interdisciplinary with its broad range of different responses to medieval preaching, the volume as a whole feels disconnected and unfocused. While some of the chapters are particularly interesting—Shunji Oguro’s exploration of the role of ruminatio in Italian sermon reportationes is a good example—others seem less relevant or engaging. Marina Montesano’s chapter on representations of witchcraft in Bernadino di Siena’s preaching, for instance, is more concerned with a lengthy and derivative discussion of anti-witchcraft legislation than an in-depth examination of the sermons that are its ostensible main focus.

The best contributions are historiographical interventions in the field of sermon studies, which nicely broaden the overall scope of the collection. These studies seek to move away from the dominant focus on Italy, and include Bert Roest’s essay on Franciscan Observant preaching from Germany, and Alberto Cadili’s examination of sermons delivered at the ecumenical church councils of the fifteenth century. Both chapters admirably consider the relationship between preacher and audience and discuss the role sermons played in disseminating ideas by focusing on largely unexamined and unknown case examples.

Despite these highlights, this is a problematic volume: in addition to the lack of cohesion already noted, it is plagued by typographical and grammatical errors, as well as poor punctuation and often less-than-rigorous academic prose. Dropped and missing citations are also a major problem. Readers hoping for a comprehensive collection of studies investigating the effectiveness of late medieval preaching may find themselves disappointed.