The Birth of Purgatory

In The Birth of Purgatory, Jacques Le Goff, the brilliant medievalist and renowned Annales historian, is concerned not with theological discussion but with the growth of an idea, with the relation between belief and society, with mental structures, and with the historical role of the imagination. Le Goff argues that the doctrine of Purgatory did not appear in the Latin theology of the West before the late twelfth century, that the word purgatorium did not exist until then. He shows that the growth of a belief in an intermediate place between Heaven and Hell was closely bound up with profound changes in the social and intellectual reality of the Middle Ages. Throughout, Le Goff makes use of a wealth of archival material, much of which he has translated for the first time, inviting readers to examine evidence from the writings of great, obscure, or anonymous theologians.


Author: Jacques Le Goff
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 12/15/1986
Pages: 440
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.02h x 6.03w x 0.92d
ISBN13: 9780226470832
ISBN10: 0226470830
BISAC Categories:
- History | Europe | Medieval
- Religion | Christianity | Catholic
- Religion | Christian Theology | Eschatology

About the Author
Jacques Le Goff is the author of Time, Work, and Culture, also published by the University of Chicago Press.