Variorum Collected Studies- Eschatology and Christian Nurture

The author considers the connection between eschatology and the basic education of the laity in the Anglo-Saxon medieval era. It appears that medieval eschatology remained closely oriented to the New Testament picture of the apocalypse. Professor Gatch opens with three essays providing an overview of the themes of this book: eschatology and the basic education of the laity. Despite an undoubted acceptance of immortality and an active afterlife, Gatch believes that medieval eschatology remained strikingly oriented to the New Testament picture of the apocalypse and the resurrection of the dead. This is explored in studies on spirituality and perceptions of eternity in the Anglo-Saxon church, and a long essay surveys the teachings in the anonymous Old English homilies. The following studies look at what can be learned of the audience of such homilies in pre-Conquest England, and at their wider European context. The final pieces consider reflections of piety in treatments of the Noah story and in a little text about the piety of a late-Saxon nobleman.