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Theology, Rhetoric, and Politics in the Eucharistic Controversy, 1078-1079: Alberic of Monte Cassino Against Berengar of Tours
Author(s): Charles Radding (Author)
- Publisher: Columbia University Press
- Publication Date: 12 Feb. 2003
- Language: English
- Print length: 200 pages
- ISBN-10: 0231126840
- ISBN-13: 9780231126847
Book Description
In the concluding stages of the eleventh-century Eucharistic Controversy, which turned on whether, and how, sacramental consecration changed the nature of bread and wine at the altar, Alberic of Monte Cassino composed a small but important treatise. Alberic was the most renowned teacher of rhetoric in his time, and his treatise, buttressed by appeal to the authority of the Church Fathers, was said by contemporaries to have “utterly destroyed” the argument of his opponent, Berengar of Tours, that the bread and wine survived its consecration. Modern scholars had long believed Alberic’s treatise to be lost. This book demonstrates that this crucial document, far from being lost, is an existing identifiable text. By showing conclusively that this work was written by Alberic, Radding and Newton transform our understanding not only of the particulars of the controversy and papal politics but also of the intellectual process by which theological doctrines took shape in mediaeval Church councils. The book includes the full Latin text and the first translation of Alberic’s treatise.
Editorial Reviews
Review
This is a very clever book, an exciting detective story based on acute paleographic and political analysis. — Mary Stroll American Historical Review This book is a valuable contribution to an understanding of the controversy over the Eucharist that swirled around Berengar, thescholasticus of Tours, in the eleventh century… an excellent example of the virtues of collaborative scholarship. — Gary Macy Catholic Historical Review The handsome volume will help to make an immensely important moment in European culture accessible and comprehensible for students and scholars alike. — Miri Rubin Ecclesiastical History Will be of interest to all students of the intellectual and ecclesiastical history of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. — William North Speculum
About the Author
Charles M. Radding is a professor of history at Michigan State University. Francis Newton is a professor of classics at Duke University.
