Medieval Literature and Christian Themes

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the influence of Christianity on Western (particularly European) literature in the medieval period of world history. It addresses and puts into perspective some of those influences. The paper gives some examples which are found in several published books and journals to illustrate the influence that Christianity had at the time.

From the Paper:

"Although the great literary "masterpieces" of Medieval Germany "often lack specific Christian references," the Notre Dame Introduction to Anthropology continues, "the impact of religious values is always present." In the book, The City of God, Christian concepts of "virtue and vice and interlaced with ingredients of a knight's courtly behavior. The Notre Dame narrative admits that there is "controversy among scholars" today as to whether some works which are not "obviously moral or didactic in tone" are expressing "normal medieval" ways of approaching subjects. Still, that having been said, it would be "equally questionable," the narrative asserts, to imagine that any literature, "however secular in conception," could have been written without being permeated by "the prevailing intellectual climate, which was thoroughly Christian.""

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hill, Thomas D. "'The Ballad of St. Stephen and Herod': Biblical History and Medieval Popular Religious Culture." Society for the Study of Mediaeval Languages and Literature. Retrieved 11 October, 2006, from http://www.mod-langs.ox.ac.uk/.
• Notre Dame University. "Introduction to Anthropology." Retrieved 11 October 2006 from http://www.nd.edu/~gantho/anth1-163/introduction10-12.html.
• Richardson, Jan. "The Luminous Word: Living the Advent Hours." The Other Side 39.6 (2003): 17-23.
• Sonjae, An. "The General Prologue to the Canterbury Tales." Literature in English Society: The Middle Ages. Seoul, Songang University Press, 1997.

More papers on Medieval Literature and Christian Themes:

• Analytical Essay # 31219 : "Heroism and Virtue in "Beowulf"
• Analytical Essay # 51479 : "Feudalism and Chivalry"
• Poem Review # 148608 : "The Warrior and "The Song of Roland"

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