Chapter 1 – Introduction: Prophetic Authority in Early Medieval Politics
Chapter 2 – Speaking for God in the reigns of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious, 768-840
Chapter 3 – Reading and Reforming the World (c. 771 - c. 789)
I. Learning to Please God and Discerning His Will
II. Conceptualizing Communication Between God, King, and Cosmos
III. Revelation and Reformation
Chapter 4 – Confronting Crisis and Controlling Meaning (789-814)
I. David’s Teacher: Alcuin of York and the Interpretation of God’s Signs
II. Experimentation and Improvisation, ca. 789-805
III. Seeking Revelation and Controlling Meaning, ca. 805-814
Chapter 5 – Expanding Impact and Diminishing Control (814-829)
I. 817, 822, and the Politics of Revelation
II. Sources of Divine Revelation and Royal Critique: Visions and Portents
III. Responding to Crisis: The Winter Meeting of 828-829 and the Epistola Generalis
Chapter 6 – Pulling God into the Debate (829-840)
I. The Paris Council of 829 - Reframing Prophetic Authority
II. Rebellions, 829-833
III. Signs, Portents, and Punishment in the Final Years of Louis the Pious
Chapter 7 – Conclusion: Conclusion: Prophetic Pasts and Apocalyptic Futures
Bibliography
Biography
Andrew Sorber is an assistant professor of Humanities and History at Southern Virginia University and the program coordinator for History. His research and teaching explore the religious, political, and intellectual history of the early medieval Mediterranean world, with topics including apocalypticism, polemics, interreligious understanding, debate, and conflict. His publications focus on issues of authority in Islamic al-Andalus and the Frankish kingdoms ruled by the Carolingians. He completed a bachelor’s degree in history at Brigham Young University, a master’s degree at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and a doctorate in medieval history at the University of Virginia.
‘[Sorber’s] study … offers a close reading of a number of important sources to demonstrate significant trends in political thought and language’ – CHOICE, December 2024.
