Imagining the Medieval Afterlife by Richard Pollard

Imagining the Medieval Afterlife by Richard Pollard

Where do we go after we die? This book traces how the European Middle Ages offered distinctive answers to this universal question, evolving from Antiquity through to the sixteenth century, to reflect a variety of problems and developments. Focussing on texts describing visions of the afterlife, alongside art and theology, this volume explores heaven, hell, and purgatory as they were imagined across Europe, as well as by noted authors including Gregory the Great and Dante. A cross-disciplinary team of contributors including historians, literary scholars, classicists, art historians and theologians offer not only a fascinating sketch of both medieval perceptions and the wide scholarship on this question: they also provide a much-needed new perspective. Where the twelfth century was once the 'high point' of the medieval afterlife, the essays here show that the afterlives of the early and later Middle Ages were far more important and imaginative than we once thought.

'Imagining the Medieval Afterlife presents an important attempt to offer an overview of medieval visions of the otherworldIn an impressive way, many of the chapters expand on and complement each other. In dialogue, these chapters give insight into various aspects of images of afterlife in the Christian Middle Ages, offering a comprehensive view while repeatedly pointing out that no conclusive findings can be drawn in such a limited space. The coherence and consistency of the articles, which combine both recent scholarship as well as many canonical sources, makes the volume easily accessible and establishes a very valuable resource for research as well as teaching.' Annegret Oehme, Zeitschrift für interkulturelle Germanistik (ZIG)
'Taken together, the contents of this volume succeed in providing the reader with an overview of the textual and artistic sources for the ways in which medieval people imagined the fates awaiting them after death.' Scott Bruce, The Journal of Ecclesiastical History

Richard Matthew Pollard studied at Toronto and then Cambridge, and his doctoral thesis won the 2010 Leonard Boyle prize. Aside from numerous articles and chapters, he completed the first new edition of the Latin version of Josephus' Antiquities since 1524 and is preparing a new critical edition of the Visio Wettini.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781316630785
ISBN 10	1316630781
Title	Imagining the Medieval Afterlife
Author	Richard Matthew Pollard
Series	Cambridge Studies In Medieval Literature
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	2022-11-10
Number of pages	376
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable