Discipline and Diversity: Papers Read at the 2005 Summer Meeting and the 2006 Winter Meeting of the Ecclesiastical History Society (Studies in Church History)

The tension between 'Discipline and Diversity' is perennial within the history of Christianity, and this volume explores the variety of strategies across the history of Christianity for reconciling these apparently polar tendencies. Ranging in period from the early Church to contemporary British and global Christianity, these essays discover both contrasts and continuities in how Christian communities have structured the relationship between those in authority, responsible for the pursuit of Christian unity, and those 'on the ground', whose energies are both the source of Christian vitality and of the Church's ability to engage creatively with pastoral reality. Topics covered comprise theology and high politics on the one hand and 'grass-roots' realities on the other, from definitions of heresy, the Inquisition, and monastic discipline to the issues of canon law, marriage, and religious attitudes to domestic violence. Central, recurring questions are explored, including: how were orthodoxy, conformity and discipline defined and enforced? What role did written texts play in imposing or subverting the dominant order? What were the tensions between the needs of the Church and the needs on the state? How successful were attempts to stifle the impulses of diversity, and what did it take for these impulses to be perceived as divinely inspired? Contributors include: AVERIL CAMERON, GILLIAN CLARK, FRANCES KNIGHT, PETER MARSHALL, MIRI RUBIN, NIGEL SMITH, STEPHEN SYKES