ABSTRACT
Allegoresis, that is, the spiritual interpretation of biblical texts, was a widespread ambiguation procedure in the Middle Ages. On the basis of a sermon by the twelfth-century Parisian bishop Maurice of Sully, we aim to show how ambiguation and the explanation of ambiguity are used as part of a rhetorical strategy in order to reach a communicative goal. In the case of the collection of sermons by Maurice of Sully, this goal consists in a change of conduct in the addressees—a moral improvement. If this cannot be deduced from the biblical text which serves as a basis for the sermon, the “textual resistance” has to be overcome by means of allegoresis. In a next step, the hermeneutical process which can be observed in Sermo 38 is to be analyzed from a cognitive-semantic point of view. This approach allows us to observe that Maurice of Sully combines an ambiguation of the biblical narrative of the raising of the widow’s son (Lk. 7:11–17) with a discussion about the ambiguity of the Old French lexeme mort (death) in order to achieve his communicative goal.
