Theology as Poetry in John Wenck's Commentary to the De coelesti hierarchia : Sources of a Quasi-­Humanist Idea in 15th-­Century Heidelberg

In the second question of his commentary to the De coelesti hierarchia (BAV, Cod. Pal. lat. 149), while discussing Pseudo-­Dionysius' appraisal of symbols, John Wenck inserts a long and well ­informed consideration of poetry that has no precedent in the commentary tradition and points to a peculiar reception of Aristotle's Poetics. The paper sets to investigate the sources of Wenck's position on poetry, as well as the reasons by which he harmonizes it with the theological contents of the commentary. In this regard, Wenck's notes on poetry (BAV, Cod. Pal. lat. 1590) and marginalia to Hermann Alemannus's translation of Averroes's Expositio poeticae (BAV, Cod. Pal. lat. 1892) are studied for the first time. Furthermore, Wenck's peculiar character is displayed by reflecting on the manner in which his views on poetry lead him to endorse and incorporate the tenets of Renaissance humanists like Peter Luder. [Publisher's Text]