Haquin Spegel och de grekiska kyrkofäderna

Abstract

In 1708, Haquin Spegel wrote to Eric Benzelius jr, thanking him for the edition of a couple of sermons by Chry- sostomus, which Benzelius had found in the Bodleian Library in Oxford:

«As I have from my youth loved and followed the meditations of Basilius and Chrysostomus, even though scoffers would try to make simple-minded people believe that all was argutiae Anglicanae, I appreciate highly that thanks to your great industry, Professor, the magnificent homilies of the latter have been increased with such useful pieces.»

Haquin had then been bishop of Linköping for many years already and was later to become archbishop of Upsala. He was considered one of the foremost of the Swedish clergy.

Thus, in his letter, Spegel says that scoffers hade accused him of argutiae anglicanae, English wit, when he had actually followed the Greek Fathers of the Church. Let us look at Spegel's relations to these Fathers of the Church. We will study four categories of Spegel’s work.

Spegel's greatest work is Guds Werk och Hwila (God's Work and Rest), printed in 1685. It is a detailed poem about the six days of creation and the seventh day of rest. Spegel is very conscious that this type of poetry belongs to the great tradition called Hexaemeron Literature, starting with Basilius the Great's sermons on the story of the creation, called Hexaemeron. Spegel also makes several references to Basilius and other Greek Fathers of the Church, who have written about the Creation.

After Spegel had written about Creation, he continued with three minor poems about Paradise: Thet öpna Paradis (The open Paradise), treating the life of Adam and Eve in Eden, Thet tilslutna Paradis (Paradise Closed) about how Adam and Eve eat of the tree of knowlege and are driven out of Eden, and Thet återwundna Paradis (Paradise Regained) about how man regains a paradise in Heaven. In the first of the poems Spegel treats all the problems that occupied the minds of the Greek Fathers of the Church: where Paradise was situated, if the four rivers were real, if Adam and Eve were vegetarians, if Adam was perfect and free of sin etc.

Spegel's third work of interest is a little devotional manual, Himmelsk Brud-Kammar (Heavenly Bridal Chamber), publishd in 1686. It is a commentary to the Song of Songs. Although Spegel rejects allegory in the Paradise poems, he can follow an old allegoric tradition here, represented among the Greek Fathers of the Church mainly by Origenes and Gregory of Nyssa. Spegel refers to them many times, particularly to Gregory, whose homilies over the Song of Songs hade great influence on him. But Spegel cannot follow him all the way. As we know, several of the Greek Fathers of the Church, not least Gregory, were influenced by the Platonic doctrine of man's divine origin and his longing for God, which would make it possible for him eventually to become like God. Spegel does not agree that it can happen in this life.

When in the aforementioned letter Spegel says that he hade followed Basilius and Chrysostomus, he probably did not think of the works I have enumerated, but of sermons. It was in his sermons that he was accused of argutiae anglicanae. And it was also in his sermons that he had imitated English authors. All his sermons also contain many references to Greek Fathers, most of all to Chrysostom. Normally, Spegel quotes them with approval, but he sometimes rejects their interpretations. This happens mainly, when he finds allegorical interpretations.

Spegel thus refers to the Fathers of the Church. But he hides the fact that he has imitated English preachers. It was evidently suspect to resort to the English. In the letter of 1708, he holds forth the Greek Fathers. You may wonder, if in Swedish Lutheran Orthodoxy it was so much better to follow the Greek Fathers. But Luther and the other reformers had tried to reach beyond the mediaeval Catholic teachings and had then referred to the old Fathers of the Church.

Spegel’s sermons hold a unique position in late 17th century Sweden, not only because of their references to the Greek Fathers of the Church but also because of their artistry. They contain lots of paradoxes, puns and others expressions, that were called argutiae. We find much of this in many Endlish preachers, above all Lancelot Andrewes. They have served Spegel as patterns. But they in their turn had the Greek Fathers as patterns. So it can well be said that Spegel belongs to a tradition, which emanated from the Fathers of the Church and is also to be found in English preachers. In his sermons, he used argutiae anglicanae, but they were argutiae patru.