Our Daily Bread: Christian Economies in the Early Medieval West

如果不承认教会的作用是合法的、广泛的和完全成熟的机构，就无法理解早期中世纪的经济。如果不考虑周围的许多教堂、修道院和散布在欧洲各地的宗教当局所在地的经济基础设施，也无法正确地理解教会对中世纪社会形成的贡献。基督教对社会经济和政治的影响远远超出了其明显的宗教重要性：它实际上是区分罗马帝国和后罗马时期的一个相当重要的因素，在罗马帝国时期，宗教对经济生活的贡献是实质性的，但在结构上是不同的，在后罗马时期，教会在财富积累和分配过程中发挥了重要作用。在这个联合项目中，我们设想从七世纪到九世纪初的基督教经济与四世纪帝国的萌芽阶段相比，本质上是不同的。此外，从公元600年到公元900年的三个世纪里，基督教经济也容易在自己的边界内发生变化，这取决于地区和时间，从而反映了彼得·布朗（Peter Brown）所定义的微型基督教世界（micro - christenddom）的社会多样性。

Early medieval economy cannot be understood without acknowledging the role of the churches as rightful, widespread and fully fledged institutions, nor indeed can the churches contribution to the formation of medieval society be properly appreciated without considering the surrounding economic infrastructures of the many churches, abbeys and seats of religious authorities scattered all over Europe. Christianity had a socioeconomic and political impact that stretched far beyond its obvious religious importance: it was in fact a rather significant factor in remarking the distinction between the Roman Empire, in which religion contributed to the economic life in a substantial, but structurally different way, and the post-Roman period, in which churches played a major part in the processes of wealth accumulation and distribution. In this joint-project, we envisage Christian economy from the seventh to the early ninth century to be inherently different when compared to its germinal phase in the fourth-century Empire. Moreover, Christian economy was also susceptible to change within its own boundaries, depending on region and time, in the three centuries from 600 to 900, thus reflecting what Peter Brown has defined as the social variety of Micro-Christendoms.