Pain and Suffering in Medieval Theology: Academic Debates at the University of Paris in the Thirteenth Century

Examines the works of Paris theologians to show how they dealt with the questions of human pain and suffering. Questions of pain and suffering occur frequently in medieval theological debate. Here, Dr Mowbray examines the innovative views of Paris's masters of theology in the thirteenth century, illuminating how they constructed notions ofpain and suffering by building a standard terminology and conceptual framework. Such issues as the Passion of Christ, penitential suffering, suffering and gender, the fate of unbaptized children, and the pain and suffering of souls and resurrected bodies in hell are all considered, to demonstrate how the masters established a clear and precise consensus for their explanations of the human condition. DONALD MOWBRAY gained his PhD from the University of Bristol.