Abstract

The central problematic of Pearl, its economy of salvation, is based on two models of justice or calculation: arithmetic and geometry. That difference-which was explored in later Scholastic writings on physics, economics, and the sacraments-is the source of doubt and confusion throughout. Indeed, a connection was already drawn between salvation and money in Scholastic interpretations of the parable of the laborers. This article also shows that the poem's obsession with calculation extends to the heavenly realm, and even to its own linguistic economy.