
Water and the Word, Volume II
Baptism and the Education of the Clergy in the Carolingian Empire: Editions of the Texts
Susan A. Keefe(Editor)
University of Notre Dame Press
Published on 15. September 2002
Book
Hardback
672 pages
978-0-268-01969-3 (ISBN)
Description
Water and the Word focuses on a genre of literature written for the education of the Carolingian clergy: Carolingian baptismal instructions. This literature has never been brought together and studied collectively in the context of the books in which it circulated. As a corpus, read in comparison to one another, the baptismal tracts tell how baptism was celebrated and interpreted across Carolingian Europe. At the same time, in their manuscript context, they are an important new source of information regarding the nature and the success of the Carolingian Reform to educate the clergy.
This comprehensive study has three major objectives. One is to describe the codices in which the baptismal instructions are found, in order to show what other kinds of material the baptismal tracts were associated with and to show where, how, and by whom these codices were intended to be used. Another is to bring together the baptismal texts and study them systematically. Finally, a third objective is to interpret the Carolingian Reform in light of the baptismal instructions and the manuscripts in which they were copied.
Volume I of this two-volume set is devoted to analysis and interpretation of the material in volume II. It is divided into three parts. The first part is concerned with the manuscript context of the baptismal instructions. In the second, the baptismal expositions themselves are analyzed. Part 3 of volume I offers some conclusions about the Carolingian Reform. Volume II contains the Latin text of sixty-six manuscripts, as well as descriptions, introductions, and a topical survey of the contents of these manuscripts. In its broadest context this study is about the Christianization of Europe-not the superficial conversion of conquered peoples, but the slow replacement of one mindset with another that came about through the education of the people under the care of pastors.
This comprehensive study has three major objectives. One is to describe the codices in which the baptismal instructions are found, in order to show what other kinds of material the baptismal tracts were associated with and to show where, how, and by whom these codices were intended to be used. Another is to bring together the baptismal texts and study them systematically. Finally, a third objective is to interpret the Carolingian Reform in light of the baptismal instructions and the manuscripts in which they were copied.
Volume I of this two-volume set is devoted to analysis and interpretation of the material in volume II. It is divided into three parts. The first part is concerned with the manuscript context of the baptismal instructions. In the second, the baptismal expositions themselves are analyzed. Part 3 of volume I offers some conclusions about the Carolingian Reform. Volume II contains the Latin text of sixty-six manuscripts, as well as descriptions, introductions, and a topical survey of the contents of these manuscripts. In its broadest context this study is about the Christianization of Europe-not the superficial conversion of conquered peoples, but the slow replacement of one mindset with another that came about through the education of the people under the care of pastors.
Reviews / Votes
"By investigating Carolingian interpretations of how people were made Christians she may be contributing more to our understanding of their cultural identity than her contemporaries, but she is far too modest to say so." -Journal of Ecclesiastical HistoryMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Notre Dame IN
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 260 mm
Width: 183 mm
Thickness: 40 mm
Weight
1438 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-268-01969-3 (9780268019693)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Susan A. Keefe is associate professor of church history at Duke University.