Medieval Christianity: A New History

by Kevin J. Madigan

Publisher:

Yale University Press

, 2015

Overview

An expansive guide to the medieval world, with new attention to women, ordinary parishioners, attitudes toward Jews and Muslims, and more.

For many, the medieval world seems dark and foreign—an often brutal and seemingly irrational time of superstition, miracles, and strange relics. The aggressive pursuit of heretics and attempts to control the “Holy Land” might come to mind. Yet the medieval world produced much that is part of our world today, including universities, the passion for Roman architecture and the development of the gothic style, pilgrimage, the emergence of capitalism, and female saints.

This new narrative history of medieval Christianity, spanning the period 500 to 1500 CE, attempts to integrate what is familiar to readers with new themes and narratives. Elements of novelty in the book include a steady focus on the role of women in Christianity; the relationships among Christians, Jews, and Muslims; the experience of ordinary parishioners; the adventure of asceticism, devotion, and worship; and instruction through drama, architecture, and art. Madigan expertly integrates these areas of focus with more traditional themes, such as the evolution and decline of papal power; the nature and repression of heresy; sanctity and pilgrimage; the conciliar movement; and the break between the old Western church and its reformers.

Illustrated with more than forty photographs of physical remains, this book promises to become an essential guide to a historical era of profound influence.

Key Features

• Provides an expansive guide to the medieval world
• Explores the role of women in Christianity
• Examines key historical events

Praise for Medieval Christianity

Offering a new approach to the history of medieval Christianity, this ambitious book fully lives up to the expectations it sets. Throughout its subtle and supple narrative, it deepens readers' knowledge of this important period.

—Willemien Otten, University of Chicago

This impressive summary of the medieval church is comprehensive in coverage, rich in detail, and clear in presentation. It seamlessly combines the best of the received story of medieval Christianity with challenging insights from the newest historiography.

—Bernard McGinn, University of Chicago

A substantial and important contribution . . . a solid, nuanced, and enlightening narrative.

—John W. Coakley, Church History

Product Details

• Title: Medieval Christianity: A New History
• Author: Kevin J. Madigan
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Print Publication Date: 2015
• Pages: 512
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Resource ID: LLS:MDVLCHRSTNTYHST
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-04-29T16:29:44Z

About Kevin J. Madigan

Kevin Madigan, Professor of the History of Christianity, is a historian of medieval Christian religious practice and thought. He began teaching at HDS in 2000. He specializes in high-medieval scholastic biblical exegesis and theology. His book Olivi and the Interpretation of Matthew in the High Middle Ages (University of Notre Dame Press) was published in 2003, and his study The Passions of Christ in High-Medieval Thought: An Essay on Christological Development was brought out by Oxford University Press in 2007. With Carolyn Osiek, Madigan co-authored Ordained Women in the Early Church: A Documentary History (Johns Hopkins, 2005; translated into Spanish 2008). In 2008, Madigan and Jon Levenson of HDS published Resurrection: The Power of God for Christians and Jews (Yale University Press), a project partly written during 2006-07 when Madigan was winner of a Luce Theological Fellowship. Madigan has contracted with Yale University Press for a new textbook in medieval Christianity tentatively entitled “The Medieval Church: A Modern History.” curriculum vitae (Adobe Reader required) courses: * History of Western Christianity, 150-1100 (Fall 2009) * Saints, Sanctity and Society in Ancient and Medieval Christianity: Seminar (Fall 2009) * History of Western Christianity, 1100-1500 (Spring 2010) * Recent Trends in Medieval Ecclesiastical Historiography (Spring 2010) * History of the Exegesis and Reception of the Gospel of Luke: Seminar (Spring 2011) * Seminar: Jewish-Christian Interaction and Conflict, ca. 200-1789 (Spring 2011) news: * Where the Intellectual and Spiritual Intersect (Harvard Gazette, 03/08) * Kevin Madigan Delivers Morning Prayers in Appleton Chapel (11/03) * Q&A With Kevin Madigan on His Newest Book (10/03)