000			03130cam a2200361 i 4500
001			ocn893709527
003			OCoLC
005			20251028093335.0
008			141212s2015 maub b 001 0 eng
010			_a 2014037508
035			_a(Sirsi) i9780674967588
040			_aDLC _beng _erda _cDLC _dYDXCP _dBTCTA _dBDX _dHLS _dWIO _dCDX _dVF$
020			_a9780674967588 (hardcover : alk. paper)
020			_a0674967585 (hardcover : alk. paper)
035			_a(OCoLC)893709527
042			_apcc
050	0	0	_aBT 821.3 _b.B76 2015
049			_aVF$A
100	1		_aBrown, Peter, _d1935-
245	1	4	_aThe ransom of the soul : _bafterlife and wealth in early western Christianity / _cPeter Brown.
264		1	_aCambridge, Massachusetts : _bHarvard University Press, _c2015.
300			_axix, 262 pages : _bmaps ; _c22 cm
336			_atext _2rdacontent
337			_aunmediated _2rdamedia
338			_avolume _2rdacarrier
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
505	0		_aMemory of the dead in early Christianity -- Visions, burial, and memory in the Africa of Saint Augustine -- Almsgiving, expiation, and the other world: Augustine and Pelagius, 410-430 AD -- Penance and the other world in Gaul -- The other world in this world: Gregory of Tours -- Columbanus, monasticism, and the other world.
520			_aMarking a departure in our understanding of Christian views of the afterlife from 250 to 650 CE, The Ransom of the Soul explores a revolutionary shift in thinking about the fate of the soul that occurred around the time of Rome's fall. Peter Brown describes how this shift transformed the church's institutional relationship to money and set the stage for its domination of medieval society in the West. Early Christian doctrine held that the living and the dead, as equally sinful beings, needed each other in order to achieve redemption. The devotional intercessions of the living could tip the balance between heaven and hell for the deceased. In the third century, money began to play a decisive role in these practices, as wealthy Christians took ever more elaborate steps to protect their own souls and the souls of their loved ones in the afterlife. They secured privileged burial sites and made lavish donations to churches. By the seventh century, Europe was dotted with richly endowed monasteries and funerary chapels displaying in marble splendor the Christian devotion of the wealthy dead. In response to the growing influence of money, church doctrine concerning the afterlife evolved from speculation to firm reality, and personal wealth in the pursuit of redemption led to extraordinary feats of architecture and acts of generosity. But it also prompted stormy debates about money's proper use -- debates that resonated through the centuries and kept alive the fundamental question of how heaven and earth could be joined by human agency.
650		0	_aFuture life _xChristianity _xHistory of doctrines _yEarly church, ca. 30-600.
650		0	_aWealth _xReligious aspects _xChristianity _xHistory of doctrines _yEarly church, ca. 30-600.
994			_aC0 _bVF$
999			_c134866 _d134866