Social Theories of the Middle Ages

Can the medieval world still speak to the modern? The implicit answer in Bede Jarrett's remarkable work Social Theories of the Middle Ages is a resounding yes. Fascinating as a purely historical study it serves also to present the foundation whereby Christendom began to articulate the vision of a different kind of common life.<p>Embedded in medieval doctrines regarding law women Christendom art - and especially just war property money-making and education - are principles that we would well relearn in the present age. By rediscovering the inner structure of such a society we might forge our own adaptation of these principles in a new embodiment of distributist order. And in shaping such an alternative vision - one which can transcend the division and dehumanization of present political economic and social structures - there is no better starting-point than Social Theories of the Middle Ages.<p>