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Religion General

Bede

The Reckoning of Time

by (author) Faith Wallis

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Initial publish date
Jan 1999
Category
General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780853236931
    Publish Date
    Jan 1999
    List Price
    $66.00

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Description

From the patristic age until the Gregorian calendar reform of 1582, computus - the science of time reckoning and art of calendar construction - was a subject of intense concern to medieval people. Bede's The Reckoning of Time (De temporum ratione) was the first comprehensive treatise on this subject, and the model and reference for all subsequent teaching, discussion and criticism of the Christian calendar.

The Reckoning of Time is a systematic exposition of the Julian solar calendar and the Paschal table of Dionysius Exiguus, with their related formulae for calculating dates. But it is more than a technical handbook. Bede sets calendar lore within a broad scientific framework and a coherent Christian concept of time, and incorporates themes as diverse as the theory of tides and the threat of chiliasm. This translation of the full text includes an extensive historical introduction and a chapter-by-chapter commentary. The Reckoning of Time also serves as an accessible introduction to the computus itself.

About the author

Faith Wallis is Associate Professor at McGill University, jointly appointed in the Department of History and the Department of Social Studies of Medicine. She is the co-editor of Medieval Science, Technology and Medicine: An Encyclopedia (Routledge, 2005) and the author of essays and translations on medieval science and medicine.

Faith Wallis' profile page