The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity

The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity takes as its subject the beliefs, practices, and institutions of the Christian Church between 400 and 1500AD. It addresses topics ranging from early medieval monasticism to late medieval mysticism, from the material wealth of the Church to the spiritual exercises through which certain believers might attempt to improve their souls. Each chapter tells a story, but seeks also to ask how and why 'Christianity' took particular forms at particular moments in history, paying attention to both the spiritual and otherwordly aspects of religion, and the material and political contexts in which they were often embedded. This Handbook is a landmark academic collection that presents cutting-edge interpretive perspectives on medieval religion for a wide academic audience, drawing together thirty key scholars in the field from the United States, the UK, and Europe. Notably, the Handbook is arranged thematically, and focusses on an analytical, rather than narrative, approach, seeking to demonstrate the variety, change, and complexity of religion throughout this long period, and the numerous different ways in which modern scholarship can approach it. While providing a very wide-ranging view of the subject, it also offers an important agenda for further study in the field.

John H. Arnold studied at the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, and worked first at UEA and then at Birkbeck, University of London. He became Professor of Medieval History at Birkbeck in 2007. He is author of various books and articles on medieval history, and has published also on modern historiography and the history of gender.

- Abbreviations and conventions - List of Contributors - Introduction - 1: John H. Arnold: Introduction: A History of Medieval Christianity - Methods - 2: John H. Arnold: Histories and Historiographies of Medieval Christianity - 3: Simon Yarrow: Religion, Belief, and Society: Anthropological Approaches - 4: Beth Williamson: Material Culture and Medieval Christianity - 5: R. I. Moore: Medieval Christianity in a World Historical Perspective - Spaces - 6: Amy Remensnyder: The Boundaries of Christendom and Islam: Iberia and the Latin Levant - 7: Sverre Bagge: Christianizing Kingdoms - 8: Wendy Davies: Monastic Landscapes and Society - 9: Nicholas Terpstra: Civic Religion - 10: Katherine L. French: Localized Faith: parochial and domestic spaces - Practices - 11: Ian Forrest: Continuity and Change in the Institutional Church - 12: Marcus Bull: Pilgrimage - 13: Gábor Klaniczay: Using Saints: Intercession, Healing, Sanctity - 14: Eric Palazzo: Missarum sollemnia: Eucharistic Rituals in the Middle Ages - 15: Rob Meens: Penitential Varieties - 16: Robert L. A. Clark: Spiritual Exercises: The Making of Interior Faith - Ideas - 17: Arnold Angenendt: Fear, Hope, Death, and Salvation - 18: Maureen C. Miller: Reform, Clerical Culture, and Politics - 19: Peter Biller: Intellectuals and the Masses: Oxen and she-asses in the medieval Church - 20: Laura A. Smoller: 'Popular' religious culture(s) - 21: Dorothea Weltecke: Doubts and the absence of faith - Identities - 22: Constance H. Berman: Medieval Monasticisms - 23: Rosalynn Voaden: Mysticism and the Body - 24: Sara Lipton: Christianity and Its Others: Jews, Muslims, and Pagans - 25: Grado Giovanni Merlo: Christian experiences of religious non-conformism - Power - 26: George Dameron: The Church as Lord - 27: Geoffrey Koziol: Christianizing Political Discourses - 28: Janet L. Nelson: Religion in the age of Charlemagne - 29: Kathleen G. Cushing: Papal Authority and Its Limitations - 30: Sarah Hamilton: Bishops, Education and Discipline - Conclusion - 31: R. Po-chia Hsia: Looking back from the Reformation - Index