Heaven's Purge

Purgatory in Late Antiquity

Bibliographic Data

ID9330921
AuthorsIsabel Moreira (0000-0001-5041-9553, corresponding author)
Year2010
Pages310
Publication date2010-11-17
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueHeaven's purge (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199736041.001.0001
OpenAlexW2491357828
Open LibraryOL23936503M
ISBN9780199736041
LanguageEN
Citations received7

This study explores the early history of purgatory as it developed from the first to the eighth centuries. Approaching the subject from a variety of angles, the book examines how ideas of post-mortem purgation as religious belief were forged from contested theology and eschatology, and how purgatory became the focus for such religious practices as prayer for the dead and the hope for intercession. Illuminating the various interests and influences at play in the formation of purgatorial ideas in late antiquity, this book discusses ideas about punishment and correction in the Roman world, slavery, medical purges at the shrines of saints, visionary texts, penitentials, and law codes. Confronting arguments that have viewed purgatory as a symptom of cultural shifts or educational decline, this book questions the extent to which Irish and Germanic views of society, and the sources associated with them — penitentials and legal tariffs — played a role in purgatory’s formation. In reassessing the significance of patristic discussion of purgatory, this study highlights Bede’s contribution to purgatory’s theological underpinnings allowing the future acceptance of purgatory as orthodox belief. Among those whose writings are examined are Origen, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Bede

Afterlife · Art · Confession (law · Eschatology · Heaven · Literature · Political science · Prayer · Punishment (psychology · Purgatory · Subject (documents · Theology · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classics · History · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Religious studies · Social Psychology · Christendom · Dogmatik · Early church, ca. 30-600 · Fegefeuer · Fornkyrkan · Frühchristentum · Historia · History of doctrines · Skärselden · Vagevuur

Tools

Open DOILibgen