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Book Review: The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity , edited by John H. Arnold

Book Review: The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity , edited by John H. Arnold John H. Arnold (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity . Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York 2014, xiv + 580 pp. ISBN 9780199582136. £95. The distinguished medieval historian and editor of this first-rate handbook begins his introduction by helpfully indicating what its purpose is not : “The purpose of this Handbook is not to trace, step by step, the history of medieval Christianity or the development of religious ideals and theological reflections, nor to forge any other kind of collective narrative” (p. 2). As Arnold rightly observes, such narratives all-too-often succumb naturally to a kind of narrative teleology that results in a simplification and sometime distortion of how Christianity was made and remade, embodied and lived over time and space. The handbook, therefore, is “not a book with a story to tell” (p. 2). The approach then is not narrative or chronological but thematic and analytical. In this sense, the volume fruitfully complicates the traditional narrative history of Christianity. Most of the 30 essays that encompass the volume concentrate some or much attention on ‘material conditions’ and how fundamental changes in these conditions necessarily alter how religion, in this case western Christianity, changes. Many even cause us to http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Church History and Religious Culture (formerly Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis) Brill

Book Review: The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity , edited by John H. Arnold

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
ISSN
1871-241X
eISSN
1871-2428
DOI
10.1163/18712428-09501006
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

John H. Arnold (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Christianity . Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York 2014, xiv + 580 pp. ISBN 9780199582136. £95. The distinguished medieval historian and editor of this first-rate handbook begins his introduction by helpfully indicating what its purpose is not : “The purpose of this Handbook is not to trace, step by step, the history of medieval Christianity or the development of religious ideals and theological reflections, nor to forge any other kind of collective narrative” (p. 2). As Arnold rightly observes, such narratives all-too-often succumb naturally to a kind of narrative teleology that results in a simplification and sometime distortion of how Christianity was made and remade, embodied and lived over time and space. The handbook, therefore, is “not a book with a story to tell” (p. 2). The approach then is not narrative or chronological but thematic and analytical. In this sense, the volume fruitfully complicates the traditional narrative history of Christianity. Most of the 30 essays that encompass the volume concentrate some or much attention on ‘material conditions’ and how fundamental changes in these conditions necessarily alter how religion, in this case western Christianity, changes. Many even cause us to

Journal

Church History and Religious Culture (formerly Nederlands Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis) – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 2015

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