Pain and Suffering in Medieval Theology

Pain and suffering were central concerns of medieval Christianity, not least because of the role of Christ's passion and death in the drama of the atonement. In this study, Donald Mowbray explores this key way into understanding medieval theology in great detail. His focus is a specific one: the works of masters of the University of Paris between c.1230 and c.1300. As he makes clear, he is concerned with speculative theology heavily influenced by Aristotelian ideas and ends his enquiry at a time when this approach was increasingly opposed by the Augustinian counter-reaction which steadily gained force during the fourteenth century. The book is divided into two main parts: pain and suffering in this life, and then in the next. The first part is subdivided into the theology of human suffering and its relationship to the suffering of Christ; theological ideas about female and male suffering; and voluntary suffering as satisfaction for sin. The second part is subdivided into the question of limbo; the suffering of the soul separated after death but before the resurrection of the body; and the suffering of the resurrected body in Hell. The book is therefore comprehensive and also addresses some of the knottiest problems of medieval theology

Art · Atonement · Christianity · Drama · Literature · Pain and suffering · Passion · Soul · Theme (computing · Theology · Law · Medieval Literature and History · Medieval Philosophy and Theology · Philosophy · Psychology · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity