The Theology of Debt in Late Medieval English Literature (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781009385954)

Exploring debt's permutations in Middle English texts, Anne Schuurman makes the bold claim that the capitalist spirit has its roots in Christian penitential theology. Her argument challenges the longstanding belief that faith and theological doctrine in the Middle Ages were inimical to the development of market economies, showing that the same idea of debt is in fact intrinsic to both. The double penitential-financial meaning of debt, and the spiritual paradoxes it creates, is a linchpin of scholastic and vernacular theology, and of the imaginative literature of late medieval England. Focusing on the doubleness of debt, this book traces the dynamic by which the Christian ascetic ideal, in its rejection of material profit and wealth acquisition, ends up producing precisely what it condemns. This title is part of the Flip it Open Programme and may also be available Open Access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details.

Author: Anne Schuurman
ISBN-10: 100938595X
ISBN-13: 9781009385954
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Published: 01/18/2024
Pages: 268
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.16lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.63d