Holy Bishops in Late Antiquity

Holy Bishops in Late Antiquity
Author: Claudia Rapp
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 363
Release: 2013-05-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0520931416

Between 300 and 600, Christianity experienced a momentous change from persecuted cult to state religion. One of the consequences of this shift was the evolution of the role of the bishop—as the highest Church official in his city—from model Christian to model citizen. Claudia Rapp's exceptionally learned, innovative, and groundbreaking work traces this transition with a twofold aim: to deemphasize the reign of the emperor Constantine, which has traditionally been regarded as a watershed in the development of the Church as an institution, and to bring to the fore the continued importance of the religious underpinnings of the bishop's role as civic leader. Rapp rejects Max Weber’s categories of "charismatic" versus "institutional" authority that have traditionally been used to distinguish the nature of episcopal authority from that of the ascetic and holy man. Instead she proposes a model of spiritual authority, ascetic authority and pragmatic authority, in which a bishop’s visible asceticism is taken as evidence of his spiritual powers and at the same time provides the justification for his public role. In clear and graceful prose, Rapp provides a wholly fresh analysis of the changing dynamics of social mobility as played out in episcopal appointments.

Pagans and Christians in Late Antiquity

Pagans and Christians in Late Antiquity
Author: A.D.(Doug) Lee
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2013-04-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1136617388

In this book A.D. Lee charts the rise to dominance of Christianity in the Roman empire. Using translated texts he explains the fortunes of both Pagans and Christians from the upheavals of the 3rd Century to the increasingly tumultuous times of the 5th and 6th centuries. The book also examines important themes in Late Antiquity such as the growth of monasticism, the emerging power of bishops and the development of pilgrimage, and looks at the fate of other significant religious groups including the Jews, Zoroastrians and Manichaeans.

Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity

Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity
Author: Peter Brown
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press
Total Pages: 196
Release: 1992
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780299133443

A preliminary report on continuing research into the political, cultural, and religious milieu of the later Roman Empire, from a humanist historiographic perspective. Discusses autocracy and the elites, power, poverty, and the forging of a Christian empire. Does not assume a knowledge of Latin. Paper edition (unseen), $12.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Church and Society in Late Antique Italy and Beyond

Church and Society in Late Antique Italy and Beyond
Author: Claire Sotinel
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023
Genre: HISTORY
ISBN: 9781003420637

The papers presented here explore in various ways the interactions between clerics and the society in which Christian churches put down roots in Late Antiquity. Some of these complex processes, involved in the christianization of the Late Roman world, form the theme of the first three sections. Amongst other aspects, the essays in these sections examine the Three Chapters controversy and the participation of lay and clerical protagonists in it, the social standing of Italian bishops (including their use of lay personnel and their economic impact), and a comparison of pagan and Christian places of worship. The essays included in the last section deal with communication in Late Antiquity. They present the first results of a long-term project on the changing role of information during the last centuries of the Roman world. Eight papers in the volume are published in English for the first time.

Transformations of Late Antiquity

Transformations of Late Antiquity
Author: Philip Rousseau
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2009
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780754665533

'Transformation' is a notion apposite to essays in honour of Peter Brown. 'The transformation of the classical heritage' is a theme to which he has devoted, and continues to devote, much energy. All the essays here in some way explore this notion of transformation; the late antique ability to turn the past to new uses, and to set its wealth of principle and insight to work in new settings.

The Role of the Bishop in Late Antiquity

The Role of the Bishop in Late Antiquity
Author: Andrew Fear
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2013-02-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1472504186

Late Antiquity witnessed a major transformation in the authority and power of the Episcopate within the Church, with the result that bishops came to embody the essence of Christianity and increasingly overshadow the leading Christian laity. The rise of Episcopal power came in a period in which drastic political changes produced long and significant conflicts both within and outside the Church. This book examines these problems in depth, looking at bishops' varied roles in both causing and resolving these disputes, including those internal to the church, those which began within the church but had major effects on wider society, and those of a secular nature.

Cities and the Meanings of Late Antiquity

Cities and the Meanings of Late Antiquity
Author: Mark Humphries
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 118
Release: 2019-11-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004422617

The last half century has seen an explosion in the study of late antiquity, which has characterised the period between the third and seventh centuries not as one of catastrophic collapse and ‘decline and fall’, but rather as one of dynamic and positive transformation. Yet research on cities in this period has provoked challenges to this positive picture of late antiquity. This study surveys the nature of this debate, examining problems associated with the sources historians use to examine late antique urbanism, and the discourses and methodological approaches they have constructed from them. It aims to set out the difficulties and opportunities presented by the study of cities in late antiquity in terms of transformations of politics, the economy, and religion, and to show that this period witnessed very real upheaval and dislocation alongside continuity and innovation in cities around the Mediterranean.

The Bishop of Rome in Late Antiquity

The Bishop of Rome in Late Antiquity
Author: Revd Dr Geoffrey D. Dunn
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2015-05-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1472455517

The essays in this volume examine the bishop of Rome in late antiquity from the time of Constantine in the fourth century to the death of Gregory the Great in the seventh. The volume canvasses a wide range of opinions about the nature of papal power by concentrating on how the holders of the office exercised their episcopal responsibilities and prerogatives within the city or in relation to both civic administration and churches in other areas.

Encountering the Sacred

Encountering the Sacred
Author: Bruria Bitton-Ashkelony
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2005-12-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0520241916

Annotation A study of the response (political and theological) of early Christian intellectuals to the widespread practice of pilgrimage to holy places in Palestine.

Travel, Communication and Geography in Late Antiquity

Travel, Communication and Geography in Late Antiquity
Author: Linda Ellis
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2017-03-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 1351877631

Travel, Communication and Geography in Late Antiquity brings together a set of papers that consider anew issues of travel, communication and landscape in Late Antiquity. This period witnessed an increase in long-distance travel and the construction of large new inter-provincial communications networks. The Christian Church's expansion is but one example of both phenomena. The contributions here present readers with new research on the explosion in travel and large-scale communication, and the effect on this of different geographical possibilities and limitations. The papers deal with a variety of travel experiences (religious pilgrimages; travel for work and educational purposes; journeys of the soul) and writings about travel; they look at various kinds of communication (ecclesiastical communication; communication for commerce; and the communication of religious identity); and they examine both physical and psychological aspects of geography, travel and communication.