Content area
Full Text
Evangile et evangelisme (XlI^sup e^-XIII^sup e^ siecle). [Cahiers de Fanjeaux: Collection d'Histoire religieuse du Languedoc au Moyen Age, 34.] (Toulouse: Editions Privat. 1999. Pp. 384. 170 F; 24,91 Euros.)
"If anyone should ask you to what religious order you belong, tell him the order of the gospel, which is the basis of all rules." Thus Stephen of Muret, the leader of the twelfth-century pauperes Christi movement which became the order of Grandmont. It is from sentiments like this, indicative of what M.-D. Chenu called the "evangelical awakening" of the twelfth century, that this collection of essays takes its inspiration.
This is the thirty-fourth volume in an impressive series devoted specifically to the medieval religious history of Languedoc. The essays, all in French, are arranged in three subsections under the titles "Reception: Reading, Hearing, and Seeing the Gospel"; "Images of Evangelism"; and "Evangelism in Institution and Practice" (my translation-more on this issue later). As is clear, the first section addresses "Evangile" and the rest address "evangelisme." The first section on reception of the Gospel includes a brief study of the manuscript evidence for circulation of Gospel texts and an interesting if somewhat disjointed study by Nicole Beriou of the...