Exercices spirituels et exercice rhétorique dans les commentaires antiques et médiévaux du Ps 113, 1-6 (Première partie)

摘要

Using several commentaries on Ps 113,1-6 from Augustin to Richard of Saint Victor, this article deals with a threefold process which is at work in ancient and mediaeval exegesis : reading the text, appropriation of the text through meditation and transcription of this meditation in the form of another text destined to nourish the meditation of other readers. The very reading of the text is essentially based on a fusion of the conceptions of language inherited from Antiquity and from Augustinian linguistic reflection and various Christian conceptions concerning prophetic inspiration. According to the idea the exegete has of the degree of understanding attained to by the Psalmist and the representation he has of the value attached to language, his exegesis takes into account the letter of the text in radically different ways and the meditation which results from the reading of the text takes on, in turn, varying aspects which would be contradictory were it not for the ultimate consciousness that what is essential is indeed in the echo which the text produces in the believer's conscience and in the manner in which it gives birth to a spiritual experience. This spiritual experience has varied forms, but is always orientated towards an approach to the mystery of God. Nourished by his meditation and having a knowledge of the mysteries which he has obtained by frequenting with faith the Biblical text, the exegete attempts by the rhetorical vehicle of his commentary to explain both the spiritual contents of his meditation and the process which has lead him through his reading to this discovery. By doing this, his literary practice, based on the rhetorical theories coming from pagan Antiquity, via Augustin, can enter into a relationship of mutual conditioning with his experience of faith.