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Oren
Guest
I’m trying to find good books about that subject of the middle ages, especially from a Catholic author or perspective. Does anyone have any good recommendations?
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David_Paul
Guest
Haven’t read it but understand How The Catholic Church Built Western Civilization is very good.
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adstrinity
Guest
Maybe to debunk the anti-Catholic rhetoric, “Those Terrible Middle Ages: Debunking the Myth” by Regine Pernoud. If you have to order it, make sure it’s in English…unless you understand French…
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brotherhrolf
Guest
History or fiction? That would be the first question. Second question would be which period - early, high, or late.
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Lizzie
Guest
The 2005 edition of “The Stripping of the Altars” describes in depth the culture of the late Middle Ages in England. It is written by Eamon Duffy, Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Cambridge and President of Magdalene College.
This new edition is excellent and well researched.
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Contarini
Guest
Other than the Pernoud book (which I haven’t read but want to), here are some good scholarly books I’d recommend:
Charles Homer Haskins, The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century. It focuses on secular literature, but it’s one of the clasic books debunking the myth of the Middle Ages as a period of ignorance and darkness.
R. W. Southern, The Making of the Middle Ages. A solid account of medieval society. Southern wrote many other books, including a biography of St. Anselm.
Marc Bloch, Feudal Society. One of the classic works of medieval social history.
Anything by Etienne Gilson (a Catholic) on medieval philosophy. Gilson is rather heavy, but he’s one of the great intellectual historians of the 20th century. Armand Maurer and Julius Weinberg have written shorter histories of medieval philosophy, and those are perhaps better places to start.
Henri de Lubac, S.J., Medieval Exegesis. Vols. 1 and 2 are in English translation–3 and 4 are only accessible if you know French. This is the classic work on traditional Christian interpretation of Scripture (he starts with the Fathers and goes through the Reformation era, so it’s more than just the Middle Ages). De
On Thomas Aquinas, an excellent survey is Brian Davies, O.P., The Thought of Thomas Aquinas. Matthew Levering (a professor at Ave Maria) wrote a very good book on Aquinas called Christ’s Fulfillment of Torah and Temple. Matt also co-wrote (with another Ave Maria professor, Michael Dauphinais) a more popular (i.e., less scholarly) book on Aquinas called Knowing the Love of Christ. I’d strongly recommend that book.
Brian Tierney’s Origins of Papal Infallibility is a highly regarded book on late medieval ecclesiology. Tierney is a Catholic, but he’s a liberal Catholic and his book is very controversial. But if you want to know scholarly literature on medieval Christianity, this is an important book to look at.
Heiko Oberman’s Harvest of Medieval Theology discusses late medieval nominalism. Oberman was a Protestant and a Reformation scholar, so his work slants in that direction. But he’s one of the great scholars of late medieval theology.
Some other names to look out for:
William Courtenay
Stephen Brown
Francis Oakley
These are slanted toward the later Middle Ages because that’s what I’ve studied most. I’m sure there are many books that will come to mind as soon as I finish this post. But these are some worth looking at.
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Joe_Kelley
Guest
I have read the Pernoud book and liked it. I also liked **The Discarded Image - An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature [Cambridge University Press 1995] by C. S. Lewis, who was not Catholic but has close to a Catholic view point.
If you have trouble finding the latter, I got my copy from Eighth Day Books, a good source for Christian Classics.
If you have trouble finding the latter, I got my copy from Eighth Day Books, a good source for Christian Classics.
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Oren
Guest
Contarini, I tried to get Gilson, but the one I wanted was like 40 bucks. It’s too much for me to spend on one book though. I got Europe and the Faith by Belloc, free online. I suppose what I’m really looking for is a look at the history, but more in the lines of talking about the culture of the Middle Ages. Sort of like, what it was like then. How people lived, and thought, etc. Thanks for all the recommendations I’ll look into them. I’ve actually looked at the one called How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization, and it looked really good, but I just wasn’t sure if it was comprehensive etc. I’ll have a look at it again! Thanks.
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