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This study proposes to determine the emblematic character of a type of catechetical-doctrinal composition, influenced by Alciato?s Emblems, that emerged at the height of the dispute between Catholics and Protestants and their attempt to refute and extend their contradictions and respective doctrines. Starting from the notion that the emblem is a «transfigured common place», I analyze the massive use of these commonplaces in theological and doctrinal treatises, and conclude that both the compositions that formed the catechisms and emblematized sums, as well as many of the paintings and other artistic compositions that derive from them, can be considered emblems in their purity, though not in a figurative sense, and constitute a category that can be called doctrinal emblems. KEYWORDS: Emblem Theory; Doctrine; Catechesis; Reform; Commonplaces. |
