This outstanding textbook offers an original history of Christian thought, asking what it has meant over the centuries to participate in the religion of the Word made flesh.
Traces Christian ideas, conversations, experiences and practices from the first century through to the dawn of modernity at the end of the eighteenth century.
Presents an inclusive history, considering the critical roles of women and religious 'others'- dissenting Christians, Jews and Muslims - in shaping Christian thought.
Sets Christian ideas in the context of conversations, controversies and concrete circumstances.
Demonstrates the importance of liturgical and devotional exercises to the practice of Christianity.
Treats words, images, music and architecture all as primary evidence of Christian traditions.
Is accompanied by a CD Rom containing hundreds of visuals to support the theories and examples discussed throughout the volume.
List of Illustrations vi
List of Maps xii
Acknowledgments xiii
Preface xiv
Prelude: Flesh and Word 1
1 The Christian Movement in the Second and Third Centuries 10
2 Inclusions and Exclusions: The Fourth Century 65
3 Fleshing Out the Word: Medieval Christianity East and West 115
4 The Voice of the Pages: Incarnation and Hierarchy in the Medieval West 147
Interlude 184
5 Death and the Body in the Fourteenth-century West 186
6 The Suffering Body of Christ: The Fifteenth Century 224
7 Reforming the Body of Christ: The Sixteenth Century, Part I 247
8 Reforming the Body of Christ: The Sixteenth Century, Part II 291
9 Rationalism and Religious Passion: The Seventeenth Century 325
10 Keeping Body and Soul Together: Eighteenth-century Christianity 359
Postlude: The Word Made Flesh 390
Bibliography 392
Index 414
