The Pleasure of Discernment: Marguerite de Navarre as Theologian

Theological Studies, March, 2002 by Douglas Taber

THE PLEASURE OF DISCERNMENT: MARGUERITE DE NAVARRE AS THEOLOGIAN. By Carol Thysell. Oxford Studies in Historical Theology. New York: Oxford University, 2000. Pp. viii 181. $45.

This work studies the Heptameron by Marguerite of Navarre, sister of Francis I of France. The well-educated humanist author of a work censured by the Sorbonne for "Lutheran" leanings, Marguerite also ironically drew criticism from Calvin for her alleged connections to "spiritual libertines." Thysell makes a convincing case that the Heptameron was not a simple collection of sometimes risque tales that only incidentally touched on religious issues, but rather a thoughtful response to Calvin's reproofs, a "profoundly theological" (9) work that replaced direct polemic with an allegorical rhetoric intended to draw the reader into the "pleasure of [spiritual] discernment."

Her thesis declared, T. examines Marguerite's substantial agreement with Calvin on a number of important issues: the real existence of evil, the role of conscience, and the soul's need for divine grace. Thus Calvin feared the spiritual libertines' alleged pantheistic belief that everything is God and therefore good, and consequently that "evil" is nonexistent, and conscience useless. Marguerite, T. demonstrates, is careful to distance herself from such doctrines.

Marguerite did not slavishly agree with Calvin. A particularly important issue concerned the proper modes of scriptural interpretation. Calvin stressed a direct interpretation of Scripture and insisted on Scripture as the sole source of divine revelation: difficult scriptural passages can be elucidated only by other scriptural passages. In contrast, Marguerite not only was unwilling to abandon the allegorical for a strictly literal interpretation of Scripture, but believed in the possibility of a Spirit-guided discernment of divine revelation in yet other texts, a discernment open to others than professionally trained theologians.

Despite its success, T.'s work suffers from its narrow 16th-century focus. One would like more guidance to the scholarship on such topics as the medieval debates over scriptural interpretation, or the Beguines and Beghards. Also, Salminen's critical edition of the Heptameron should be added to the bibliography.

DOUGLAS TABER
Wayne State College, Neb.