The Crucified God in the Carolingian Era
Theology and Art of Christ's Passion

Examines thinking during the Carolingian 'Renaissance' on the critical issue of Christ's Passion and Crucifixion.

Celia Chazelle (Author)

9780521039451, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 16 August 2007

356 pages, 33 b/w illus.
24.6 x 18.9 x 1.9 cm, 0.64 kg

'This is a book in the best tradition of sophisticated theological, intellectual, and iconographical analysis. It should be required reading for all those concerned to explain that most distinctive of medieval constructions: the devotion - both intellectual and affective - to the crucified Christ.' Journal of Religion

The Carolingian 'Renaissance' of the late eighth and ninth centuries, in what is now France, western Germany and northern Italy, transformed medieval European culture. At the same time it engendered a need to ensure that clergy, monks and laity embraced orthodox Christian doctrine. This book offers a fresh perspective on the period by examining transformations in a major current of thought as revealed through literature and artistic imagery: the doctrine of the Passion and the crucified Christ. The evidence of a range of literary sources is surveyed - liturgical texts, poetry, hagiography, letters, homilies, exegetical and moral tractates - but special attention is given to writings from the discussions and debates concerning artistic images, Adoptionism, predestination and the Eucharist.

List of illustrations
Preface
List of abbreviations
1. Introduction
2. The passion and Christological inquiry at the court of Charlemagne
3. The crucified God in the Gellone Sacramentary and Hrabanus Maurus' In honorem sanctae crucis
4. The crucified Christ in later Carolingian literature
5. For whom did Christ die?: the controversy over divine predestination
6. One-time sacrifice, daily food and drink: the controversy over the eucharist
7. Three later Carolingian crucifixion images
8. Conclusion
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Christian theology [HRCM], History of religion [HRAX], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD], History of art: Byzantine & Medieval art c 500 CE to c 1400 [ACK]