Editors’ Preface

Summary

This volume in the series Christianity and Culture aims to re-examine the relationship between Christianity and romance, one of the major genres of the medieval period. The essays are not intended to reach a consensus or to present a single view of a complex situation. What each aims to do, in relation to its particular area of investigation, is to provide the reader with up-to-date discussion of the state of knowledge and of current approaches to medieval insular romance. The focus is on the opportunities for interpreting the romances to be gained from reading them in their Christian cultural context. This may mean steering readers away from a modern back-formation of piety and allegory where none exists, as well as providing a reliable and well-informed sense of the knowledge and cultural capital represented by Christianity for the original writers and audiences of romance. As with the series as a whole, the intention is also to provide resources for teaching the topic, not only in the chapters addressing particular aspects of romance in its Christian context, but also in two final essays reflecting upon the practical issues of pedagogy in this challenging field.

The editors are grateful to Caroline Palmer and the editorial staff at Boydell & Brewer for their ever-reliable help and efficiency and to the General Editors of the series for advice and encouragement. We are appreciative of Dominican University's generosity in providing research funds for the publication. We would also like to thank Emmanuel College, Cambridge, for their support in awarding the Derek Brewer Visiting Fellowship to Michelle Sweeney for Michaelmas Term 2008; their provision for the fellowship has been and will continue to be a valued opportunity for scholars to advance their research. We are grateful to all our contributors for their co-operation and enthusiasm in bringing the project to fruition.

Finally, it is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to include in this collection Derek Brewer's essay on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, on which he was working at the time of his death. Derek Brewer was a supporter of the Christianity and Culture project from its earliest beginnings and was an active patron, offering support and advice with characteristic pertinence and generosity. It is entirely fitting that this volume should be dedicated to him; we only regret that he did not live to see it published.