The Formation of Christian Europe

The Carolingians, Baptism, and the Imperium Christianum

Owen M. Phelan

Explores sacramentum as an ordering concept for Latin authors from Antiquity to the early Middle Ages
Examines how early medieval approaches to baptism reflect and underscore the utility of sacramentum for organizing political, theological, and cultural agendas
Traces baptism's hold on Carolingian ideas of people and society theologically, socially, politically, and culturally
Assesses the internalization of sacramental thinking conveyed by baptism throughout the imperium christianum of the ninth century

The Formation of Christian Europe

The Carolingians, Baptism, and the Imperium Christianum

Owen M. Phelan

Description

The Formation of Christian Europe analyzes the Carolingians' efforts to form a Christian Empire with the organizing principle of the sacrament of baptism. Owen M. Phelan argues that baptism provided the foundation for this society, and offered a medium for the communication and the popularization of beliefs and ideas, through which the Carolingian Renewal established the vision of an imperium christianum in Europe. He analyzes how baptism unified people theologically, socially, and politically and helped Carolingian leaders order their approaches to public life. It enabled reformers to think in ways which were ideologically consistent, publicly available, and socially useful.
Phelan also examines the influential court intellectual, Alcuin of York, who worked to implement a sacramental society through baptism. The book finally looks at the dissolution of Carolingian political aspirations for an imperium christianum and how, by the end of the ninth century, political frustrations concealed the deeper achievement of the Carolingian Renewal.

The Formation of Christian Europe

The Carolingians, Baptism, and the Imperium Christianum

Owen M. Phelan

Introduction
1. Sacramentum: An Ordering Concept from Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages
2. The Articulation of Polity: Baptism as the Foundation of an Imperium Christianum
3. The Carolingian Subject: The Sacramentum of Baptism and the Formation of Identity in Alcuin of York
4. The Carolingian Machinery of Christian Formation: Charlemagne's Encyclical Letter n Baptism from 811/812 and its implications
5. The Sacramental Assumption: Baptism and Carolingian Society in the Ninth Century
Conclusion: Loss and Legacy
Bibliography
Index

The Formation of Christian Europe

The Carolingians, Baptism, and the Imperium Christianum

Owen M. Phelan

Author Information

Owen Phelan is Associate Professor of Church History at Mount Saint Mary's University. Dr. Phelan works on Church History, History of Christianity, and Medieval History. He specializes in the study of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. He is the co-editor of Rome and Religion in the Medieval World: Studies in Honor of Thomas F.x. Noble with Valerie L. Garver (Ashgate, 2014).

The Formation of Christian Europe

The Carolingians, Baptism, and the Imperium Christianum

Owen M. Phelan

Reviews and Awards

"This work is laboriously documented and replete with historical detail that supports Phelan's thesis The breadth and depth of his textual examination, including theological, liturgical, and political texts, make The Formation of Christian Europe an impressive work of historical scholarship. Yet Phelan's study of the sacramentum and the development of baptismal formation also makes his work useful to theologians. As such, his work holds a strong appeal across academic disciplines."--Sean Robertson, Reading Religion

"Highly recommended." --CHOICE

"Owen Phelan has made an invaluable contribution to early Carolingian studies. He has convincingly argued the case for baptism as one of the most significant components in the proper ordering of the imperium christianum, and has opened an invaluable window into the minds of Early Carolingian reformers as they attempted to develop a theological and eschatological blueprint for the Early Carolingian empire of Charlemagne and his successors." --Church History