God, Demons, and Fear : Emotion, the Self, and Self-control in Gregory of Tours

Hailstone, Catherine-Rose

Edinburgh University Press（2026/07発売）

• 製本 Hardcover:ハードカバー版／ページ数 296 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9781399555883

Full Description

The sixth-century bishop, Gregory of Tours, is one of the most renowned figures in the history of Merovingian Gaul (c.458-751 CE). This book explores a new side to Gregory: his interest in and attitudes towards Christian fears and their role in shaping the good self and good society. By analysing Gregory's written references to the fears of God, the devil, and demons, Hailstone argues that Gregory was and is better understood as a "Christian intellectual" whose views and writings merged Christian principles and practices together with Graeco-Roman ethics. This book invites us to re-evaluate our knowledge of Gregory and the early Merovingians, encouraging us to rethink what an analysis of emotions can tell us about the impact that Rome's decline had on the social, political, and cultural environment of Gaul.

Contents

List of Maps and Figures
Abbreviations
Note on Translation
Acknowledgements

Introducing Gregory: The Bishop, Politician, Rhetorician, and...Christian intellectual?

1. Fear, Discipline, and Self-Control: Creating the Good Christian Self

2. Fear in Power Politics: Misbehaving Monarchs and Bishops

3. Fear and Cosmic Order: Apocalypse and the Remaking of the World

4. Fear in Religious Place and Space: Gregory as an impresario of Christian Fear

5. Fear and Fluidity: Blurred Lines in Demonic Nature

6. Fear and Losing Control: Different Categories of Redemption

Conclusion: A New Gregory?

Bibliography
Index