Crisis of the Oikoumene / The Three Chapters and the Failed Quest for Unity in the Sixth-Century Mediterranean

Brepols - Harvey Miller 2007. Hardcover XII+304 p., 11 b/w ill. + 1 colour ill., 3 b/w line art, 160 x 240 mm, 2007 Languages: English, French, Italian. ISBN 9782503515205. This book presents ten chapters by an international group of scholars who examine different facets of the Three Chapters Controversy and its profound impact on these regions. The sixth-century theological controversy over the 'Three Chapters', which centred on the nature of Christ, provoked one of the most serious and long-lived religious schisms of the early Middle Ages. The fault lines ran not only between the Byzantine imperial court and the papacy, but between Rome and the churches in the former western empire?s successor states. In Italy, the schism endured into the seventh century, and the repercussions were felt long thereafter. Though rooted in the complexities of christological debate, the tensions reveal the growing political as well as cultural divide between Byzantium, Rome, and the West. Thus the controversy is critical for our understanding of the late-antique and early-medieval Mediterranean world, and of the inheritance of empire in western Europe and North Africa. This book presents ten chapters by an international group of scholars who examine different facets of the Three Chapters Controversy and its profound impact on these regions. Table of Contents Introduction - Robert A. Markus and Claire Sotinel The Three Chapters Controversy and the Council of Chalcedon - Richard M. Price L?Afrique reconquise et les Trois Chapitres - Yves Moderan The Three Chapters and the Transformations of Italy - Claire Sotinel Much Ado About Nothing: Gregory the Great?s Apology to the Istrians - Carole Straw The Three Chapters Controversy and the Biblical Diagrams of Cassiodorus?s Codex Grandior and Institutions - Celia Chazelle Il regno longobardo in Italia e i Tre Capitoli - Claudio Azzara The Franks and Papal Theology, 550?660 - Ian Wood Heresy in Secundus and Paul the Deacon - Walter Pohl Epilogue - Robert A. Markus and Claire Sotinel