The contra: recognizing a role for violence -- Sacred space and ritual: creating an expectancy of restraint -- The Eucharist and the clergy: fostering charity incarnate -- Sermons, confessions and private meditation: learning that vengeance disturbs the divine -- Do think twice, it's not alright -- Sacred space and ritual: finding variation yet common expectation -- The Eucharist: demanding a dreadful peace -- The clergy: swinging both plowshares and swords -- The reality of 'civility' spurred by religion -- Finding religion in restraint
Summary
Drawing on spiritual and legal sources, this book provides a novel perspective on how late medieval Christianity problematized parishioners' use of violence and how parishioners tried to reconcile the demands of their faith with cultural norms that honored violent conduct
