Christ Among the Medieval Dominicans

Christ among the Medieval Dominicans adopts a genuinely multi-disciplinary approach to its topic, bringing together the research of experts in a wide variety of fields. The essays in this volume, written by an acclaimed group of international scholars and presented at the University of Notre Dame Conference in Medieval Studies, provide many perspectives (theology, philosophy, spirituality, institutional and social history, art history, Latin and vernacular literature, and manuscript studies) on the life and thought of the Order of the Preachers. The essays focus on the role of Christ within the devotion and imagination of the Order and in effect expose the "state of the question" in studies of this important medieval institution. As a whole, the volume tests commonplace but often unexamined presuppositions of medieval historiography, especially in the history of spirituality and literary criticism. The essays are accompanied by ample visual evidence from paintings, manuscript illustrations and texts, woodcuts, and engravings, complete with generous indices of manuscripts and names.

?This collection of conference papers deals with the way Christ was portrayed in the art and writings of the medieval Dominicans and those who were influenced by them. Most of the papers are in English, though three are in French. The papers deal with the order as a whole and with individual writers such as Stephen Langton, Mechthild of Magdeburg, Albert the Great, Thomas Aquinas, and others. The essayists, however, examine a wide range of themes, including catechists, marriage, medieval philosophy, and the way Dominic himself was remembered and compared to Christ, among others. The goal of the essayists was to examine the way the Dominicans perceived Christ and then to examine how that perception influenced their work. This book would be an excellent addition to academic, research, and especially theological libraries.? ?Library Journal