Ars praedicandi: History and Key Facts

Ars praedicandi (Latin for "the art of preaching", plural artes praedicandi) was a literary genre of the later Middle Ages, comprising treatises and manuals to aid preachers in composing and delivering sermons in the then modern style. The singular term could also refer to the act or theory of preaching itself. The ars praedicandi was one of several genres of technical treatise in literary composition that flourished in the later Middle Ages, alongside the ars dictaminis for letter writing, ars grammatica for Latin grammar and ars poetriae for verse. The ars praedicandi may thus be considered one of the medieval branches of rhetoric. It also belongs to the broader category of late medieval pastoralia.

Artes praedicandi can be contrasted with other sermon aids, such as treatises on virtues and vices aimed at preachers, sermon collections, collections of sententiae or exempla, and model sermons. The genre is also limited to Western Christianity. In Eastern Christianity, where such formal treatises on preaching did not develop, their role was largely filled by sermon collections.

Source and attribution

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