Redemption 617in Castilian Town Society, 1100–1300(Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1984); L. P. Harvey, Islamic Spain,
1250 to 1500 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1990); Derek W. Lomax, The Reconquest of Spain(Lon-
don: Longman, 1978); Joseph F. O’Callaghan, Reconquest
and Crusade in Medieval Spain(Philadelphia: University
of Pennsylvania Press, 2003); Bernard F. Reilly, The Con-
test of Christian and Muslim Spain: 1031–1157 (Cam-
bridge: Blackwell, 1992).
Redemption In the Middle Ages, the concept of salva-
tion departed from the patristic conception of exchange
and moved toward a theory of Redemption that interpreted
it in terms of ransom. Salvation could be part of creation
and require Redemption. The Middle Ages approached this
idea through the problem of the Incarnation of Christ.
The councils of Quierzy in 853 and Valence in 855
used the biblical terms ransomand Christ’s sacrifice,end-
ing a controversy over PREDESTINATION.ANSELMof Laon
justified the Incarnation of Christ in his Why God Became
Man,asserting that it was the only possible way of paying
GODfor the debt by humankind owed for sin. Without
paying a ransom for the acquittal of this debt, SINcould
not be left punished and no sinner could attain salvation.
Sinners could not pay for the remission of their sins by
their own strength; thus the necessity of the compen-
satory Incarnation. Christ died for sinners and was the
Redeemer. Through his divine and human natures, Christ
alone could give God the price of this ransom, through
his Passion, death, and Resurrection. God simply by
means of his mercy supposedly was not able to remit
sin. There had to be a just reparation, and no created
being could restore wounded human nature and thus have