The Graceful Abolition of Justice in Ordinalia and Other Medieval Dramatic Texts
The Graceful Abolition of Justice in Ordinalia and Other Medieval Dramatic Texts

Summary/Abstract: Browsing through the medieval devotional dramatic texts rather than diligently researching them step by step, this brief article takes on the humble task just to outline certain basic theological topics connected with the redemption theme. The ransom theory together with its major subplot variations has been traced above all through the infernal characters’ speech while the contrary, post- Anselmic view is followedteleologically in the narrative line of the ‘story of the Holy Rood’. The legalistic argument on the devil’s rights and deception is abolished by the figure of the ‘oil of mercy’as well as by the Resurrection finale of the 15th century Cornish Ordinalia. This medieval dramatic text is shown to reveal better than any other drama of the kind how the resurrectional horizon presupposes the prevalence of mercy over justice rather than their equality.

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