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A review by guojing
The Apocalypse in the Early Middle Ages by James Palmer
4.0
This was quite the complicated work. Not just because of the subject matter, which is itself ranks high on difficulty, but because of its style: it appears to be, essentially, a review of the literature which has studied the issue of the Apocalypse in the Early Middle Ages in English and German. Considering that I have never heard of any of the modern names involved, much less read their works, the entire book left me feeling a little out of place, but the interest which I possess regarding the theme - as I view it, the irrationality of 'The End is Nigh!' sentimentality - kept me going through a chapter a day.
I do not regret reading it, for it painted an image of the era which seems to be thoroughly overlooked in other works on the age: for instance, I have oh so often read about Pope Gregory seeing the Angles in the slave market in Rome and commenting how they ought rightly be termed "Angels", and that this set in motion the Pope's sponsoring of missionary work into Britannia - HOWEVER, never has it come up that this was an ecclesiological imperative; without this missionary work being done amongst all the people of the world, prophecy could not be fulfilled, which turns the entire notion of early medieval missions on its head for me, from being something relatively altruistic (though, obviously, something which would guarantee more income and power for the Church) to something completely selfish: the desire to bring about the end of the world and found the kingdom of Christ on Earth. Such things like this gave the work an eye-opening quality which makes me glad to have read it, and thus my 4 star rating.
I do not regret reading it, for it painted an image of the era which seems to be thoroughly overlooked in other works on the age: for instance, I have oh so often read about Pope Gregory seeing the Angles in the slave market in Rome and commenting how they ought rightly be termed "Angels", and that this set in motion the Pope's sponsoring of missionary work into Britannia - HOWEVER, never has it come up that this was an ecclesiological imperative; without this missionary work being done amongst all the people of the world, prophecy could not be fulfilled, which turns the entire notion of early medieval missions on its head for me, from being something relatively altruistic (though, obviously, something which would guarantee more income and power for the Church) to something completely selfish: the desire to bring about the end of the world and found the kingdom of Christ on Earth. Such things like this gave the work an eye-opening quality which makes me glad to have read it, and thus my 4 star rating.