Ambrose of Milan and Community Formation in Late Antiquity

Ambrose of Milan and Community Formation in Late Antiquity

Author: Ethan Gannaway

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2021-03-08

Total Pages: 283

ISBN-13: 1527567265

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Ambrose, the first patrician bishop and a prolific writer of a broad range of works, presents numerous opportunities for interdisciplinary research. His participation in many social groups, sometimes at odds with each other, and sometimes overlapping, demanded flexibility. The result is a protean figure, whose motives are not always clear. His own works and those of the scholars who contribute to this volume are accordingly multidisciplinary. Fields such as theology (especially historical theology), history, classics, philosophy, linguistics, and aesthetics, among others, and the recent international research that belongs to them nuance the volume’s investigation of Ambrose’s actions and motivations. The reader will find that Ambrose’s efforts to create and to strengthen social cohesion included building relationships and erecting social structures set on the foundations of Nicaean Christianity against heresy and paganism. A fusion of Graeco-Roman and Judeo-Christian intellectual traditions reinforced the solidarity Ambrose promoted. These endeavors met with success then, and continue to do so now, as indicated by the modern community of scholars found within this book.


Book Synopsis Ambrose of Milan and Community Formation in Late Antiquity by : Ethan Gannaway

Download or read book Ambrose of Milan and Community Formation in Late Antiquity written by Ethan Gannaway and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2021-03-08 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ambrose, the first patrician bishop and a prolific writer of a broad range of works, presents numerous opportunities for interdisciplinary research. His participation in many social groups, sometimes at odds with each other, and sometimes overlapping, demanded flexibility. The result is a protean figure, whose motives are not always clear. His own works and those of the scholars who contribute to this volume are accordingly multidisciplinary. Fields such as theology (especially historical theology), history, classics, philosophy, linguistics, and aesthetics, among others, and the recent international research that belongs to them nuance the volume’s investigation of Ambrose’s actions and motivations. The reader will find that Ambrose’s efforts to create and to strengthen social cohesion included building relationships and erecting social structures set on the foundations of Nicaean Christianity against heresy and paganism. A fusion of Graeco-Roman and Judeo-Christian intellectual traditions reinforced the solidarity Ambrose promoted. These endeavors met with success then, and continue to do so now, as indicated by the modern community of scholars found within this book.

Christian Emperors and Roman Elites in Late Antiquity

Christian Emperors and Roman Elites in Late Antiquity

Author: Rita Lizzi Testa

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2022-04-28

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 1000591239

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This book brings together a number of case studies to show some of the ways in which, as soon as the Roman Senate gained new political authority under Constantine and his successors, its members crowded the political scene in the West. In these chapters, Rita Lizzi Testa makes much of her work – the fruit of decades of research –available in English for the first time. The focus is on the aristocratics' passion for aruspical science, the political use of exphrastic poems, and even their control of the hagiographic genre in the late sixth century. She demonstrates how Roman senators were chosen as legates to establish proactive relations with Christian emperors, their ministers and military commanders, and Eastern and Western provincial elites. Senators wove a web of relations in the Eastern and Western empires, sewing and stitching the empire's fabric with their diplomatic skills, wealth, and influence, while lively and highly litigious assembly activity still required of them a cultured rhetoric. Through employing astute political strategies, they maintained their privileges, including their own beliefs in ancient cults. Christian Emperors and Roman Elites in Late Antiquity provides a crucial collection for students and scholars of Late Antique history and religion, and of politics in the Late Roman Empire.


Book Synopsis Christian Emperors and Roman Elites in Late Antiquity by : Rita Lizzi Testa

Download or read book Christian Emperors and Roman Elites in Late Antiquity written by Rita Lizzi Testa and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2022-04-28 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together a number of case studies to show some of the ways in which, as soon as the Roman Senate gained new political authority under Constantine and his successors, its members crowded the political scene in the West. In these chapters, Rita Lizzi Testa makes much of her work – the fruit of decades of research –available in English for the first time. The focus is on the aristocratics' passion for aruspical science, the political use of exphrastic poems, and even their control of the hagiographic genre in the late sixth century. She demonstrates how Roman senators were chosen as legates to establish proactive relations with Christian emperors, their ministers and military commanders, and Eastern and Western provincial elites. Senators wove a web of relations in the Eastern and Western empires, sewing and stitching the empire's fabric with their diplomatic skills, wealth, and influence, while lively and highly litigious assembly activity still required of them a cultured rhetoric. Through employing astute political strategies, they maintained their privileges, including their own beliefs in ancient cults. Christian Emperors and Roman Elites in Late Antiquity provides a crucial collection for students and scholars of Late Antique history and religion, and of politics in the Late Roman Empire.

The Oxford Handbook of Roman Philosophy

The Oxford Handbook of Roman Philosophy

Author: Myrto Garani

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2023-03-24

Total Pages: 649

ISBN-13: 0199328382

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"Several decades of scholarship by now have demonstrated that Roman thinkers have developed in new and stimulating directions the systems of thought they inherited from the Greeks, and that, taken together, they offer a range of perspectives that are of philosophical interest in their own right. This collection of essays pursues a maximally inclusive approach, covering not only authors such as Augustine, but also poets or historians. It pays attention to the mode in which these works were written (giving rhetoric too its due) and their often conscious reflections on the process of translating, or transferring Greek ideas to Roman contexts"--


Book Synopsis The Oxford Handbook of Roman Philosophy by : Myrto Garani

Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of Roman Philosophy written by Myrto Garani and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2023-03-24 with total page 649 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Several decades of scholarship by now have demonstrated that Roman thinkers have developed in new and stimulating directions the systems of thought they inherited from the Greeks, and that, taken together, they offer a range of perspectives that are of philosophical interest in their own right. This collection of essays pursues a maximally inclusive approach, covering not only authors such as Augustine, but also poets or historians. It pays attention to the mode in which these works were written (giving rhetoric too its due) and their often conscious reflections on the process of translating, or transferring Greek ideas to Roman contexts"--

The Politics of Heresy in Ambrose of Milan

The Politics of Heresy in Ambrose of Milan

Author: Michael Stuart Williams

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2017-10-19

Total Pages: 355

ISBN-13: 110701946X

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Re-examines the 'Arian' opposition to Ambrose in Milan, arguing that he misrepresented it to suit his own agenda as bishop.


Book Synopsis The Politics of Heresy in Ambrose of Milan by : Michael Stuart Williams

Download or read book The Politics of Heresy in Ambrose of Milan written by Michael Stuart Williams and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-10-19 with total page 355 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Re-examines the 'Arian' opposition to Ambrose in Milan, arguing that he misrepresented it to suit his own agenda as bishop.

Righteousness

Righteousness

Author: Jeffrey J. Niehaus

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2023-10-11

Total Pages: 309

ISBN-13: 1666738018

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The first volume of this three-volume work reviews the history of efforts to define biblical righteousness. Modern views are engaged and critiqued, from the seminal article (1860) by Ludwig Diestel (God’s righteousness as the agreement of his will and purpose) to others in the theological stream known as the “New Perspective.” Scholars discussed include Walther Eichrodt, Gerhard von Rad, Elizabeth Achtemeier, James D. G. Dunn and N. T. Wright. Other perspectives are also engaged, including H. H. Schmid’s definition of righteousness as conformity to the created order (Weltordnung), John Piper’s view that God’s righteousness is God’s concern for his own glory, and the traditional view, championed by C. L. Irons, that God’s righteousness is his iustitia distributiva. The author examines these views, all of which have been supported by inductive studies, in light of a proposed alternative: that righteousness is conformity to God’s Being and doing. That definition will be explored further in Volumes II (OT) and III (NT). Unlike previous studies, the present work proceeds deductively and experimentally, and thereby seeks to avoid the pitfalls of a dogmatic approach. Extra-biblical, patristic, medieval, and reformation views of righteousness are also considered as background to the modern study of righteousness.


Book Synopsis Righteousness by : Jeffrey J. Niehaus

Download or read book Righteousness written by Jeffrey J. Niehaus and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2023-10-11 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first volume of this three-volume work reviews the history of efforts to define biblical righteousness. Modern views are engaged and critiqued, from the seminal article (1860) by Ludwig Diestel (God’s righteousness as the agreement of his will and purpose) to others in the theological stream known as the “New Perspective.” Scholars discussed include Walther Eichrodt, Gerhard von Rad, Elizabeth Achtemeier, James D. G. Dunn and N. T. Wright. Other perspectives are also engaged, including H. H. Schmid’s definition of righteousness as conformity to the created order (Weltordnung), John Piper’s view that God’s righteousness is God’s concern for his own glory, and the traditional view, championed by C. L. Irons, that God’s righteousness is his iustitia distributiva. The author examines these views, all of which have been supported by inductive studies, in light of a proposed alternative: that righteousness is conformity to God’s Being and doing. That definition will be explored further in Volumes II (OT) and III (NT). Unlike previous studies, the present work proceeds deductively and experimentally, and thereby seeks to avoid the pitfalls of a dogmatic approach. Extra-biblical, patristic, medieval, and reformation views of righteousness are also considered as background to the modern study of righteousness.

Private Worship, Public Values, and Religious Change in Late Antiquity

Private Worship, Public Values, and Religious Change in Late Antiquity

Author: Kimberly Diane Bowes

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2008-07-28

Total Pages: 365

ISBN-13: 0521885930

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Conventional histories of late antique Christianity tell the story of a public institution - the Christian church. In this book, Kim Bowes relates another history, that of the Christian private. Using textual and archaeological evidence, she examines the Christian rituals of home and rural estate, which took place outside the supervision of bishops and their agents. These domestic rituals and the spaces in which they were performed were rooted in age-old religious habits. They formed a major, heretofore unrecognized force in late ancient Christian practice. The religion of home and family, however, was not easily reconciled with that of the bishop's church. Domestic Christian practices presented challenges to episcopal authority and posed thorny questions about the relationship between individuals and the Christian collective. As Bowes suggests, the story of private Christianity reveals a watershed in changing conceptions of "public" and "private," one whose repercussions echo through contemporary political and religious debate.


Book Synopsis Private Worship, Public Values, and Religious Change in Late Antiquity by : Kimberly Diane Bowes

Download or read book Private Worship, Public Values, and Religious Change in Late Antiquity written by Kimberly Diane Bowes and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2008-07-28 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conventional histories of late antique Christianity tell the story of a public institution - the Christian church. In this book, Kim Bowes relates another history, that of the Christian private. Using textual and archaeological evidence, she examines the Christian rituals of home and rural estate, which took place outside the supervision of bishops and their agents. These domestic rituals and the spaces in which they were performed were rooted in age-old religious habits. They formed a major, heretofore unrecognized force in late ancient Christian practice. The religion of home and family, however, was not easily reconciled with that of the bishop's church. Domestic Christian practices presented challenges to episcopal authority and posed thorny questions about the relationship between individuals and the Christian collective. As Bowes suggests, the story of private Christianity reveals a watershed in changing conceptions of "public" and "private," one whose repercussions echo through contemporary political and religious debate.

Through the Eye of a Needle

Through the Eye of a Needle

Author: Peter Brown

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2013-09-02

Total Pages: 806

ISBN-13: 1400844533

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A sweeping intellectual history of the role of wealth in the church in the last days of the Roman Empire Jesus taught his followers that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Yet by the fall of Rome, the church was becoming rich beyond measure. Through the Eye of a Needle is a sweeping intellectual and social history of the vexing problem of wealth in Christianity in the waning days of the Roman Empire, written by the world's foremost scholar of late antiquity. Peter Brown examines the rise of the church through the lens of money and the challenges it posed to an institution that espoused the virtue of poverty and called avarice the root of all evil. Drawing on the writings of major Christian thinkers such as Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome, Brown examines the controversies and changing attitudes toward money caused by the influx of new wealth into church coffers, and describes the spectacular acts of divestment by rich donors and their growing influence in an empire beset with crisis. He shows how the use of wealth for the care of the poor competed with older forms of philanthropy deeply rooted in the Roman world, and sheds light on the ordinary people who gave away their money in hopes of treasure in heaven. Through the Eye of a Needle challenges the widely held notion that Christianity's growing wealth sapped Rome of its ability to resist the barbarian invasions, and offers a fresh perspective on the social history of the church in late antiquity.


Book Synopsis Through the Eye of a Needle by : Peter Brown

Download or read book Through the Eye of a Needle written by Peter Brown and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-09-02 with total page 806 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sweeping intellectual history of the role of wealth in the church in the last days of the Roman Empire Jesus taught his followers that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Yet by the fall of Rome, the church was becoming rich beyond measure. Through the Eye of a Needle is a sweeping intellectual and social history of the vexing problem of wealth in Christianity in the waning days of the Roman Empire, written by the world's foremost scholar of late antiquity. Peter Brown examines the rise of the church through the lens of money and the challenges it posed to an institution that espoused the virtue of poverty and called avarice the root of all evil. Drawing on the writings of major Christian thinkers such as Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome, Brown examines the controversies and changing attitudes toward money caused by the influx of new wealth into church coffers, and describes the spectacular acts of divestment by rich donors and their growing influence in an empire beset with crisis. He shows how the use of wealth for the care of the poor competed with older forms of philanthropy deeply rooted in the Roman world, and sheds light on the ordinary people who gave away their money in hopes of treasure in heaven. Through the Eye of a Needle challenges the widely held notion that Christianity's growing wealth sapped Rome of its ability to resist the barbarian invasions, and offers a fresh perspective on the social history of the church in late antiquity.

Stasis

Stasis

Author: Jonathan Stutz

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2024-07-08

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 3161626370

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Book Synopsis Stasis by : Jonathan Stutz

Download or read book Stasis written by Jonathan Stutz and published by Mohr Siebeck. This book was released on 2024-07-08 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Ostia in Late Antiquity

Ostia in Late Antiquity

Author: Douglas Boin

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-07-22

Total Pages: 309

ISBN-13: 1107024013

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'Ostia in Late Antiquity' narrates the life of Ostia Antica, Rome's ancient harbor, during the later empire.


Book Synopsis Ostia in Late Antiquity by : Douglas Boin

Download or read book Ostia in Late Antiquity written by Douglas Boin and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-22 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Ostia in Late Antiquity' narrates the life of Ostia Antica, Rome's ancient harbor, during the later empire.

Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity

Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity

Author: Thomas Sizgorich

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2012-03-19

Total Pages: 407

ISBN-13: 0812207440

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In Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity, Thomas Sizgorich seeks to understand why and how violent expressions of religious devotion became central to the self-understandings of both Christian and Muslim communities between the fourth and ninth centuries. Sizgorich argues that the cultivation of violent martyrdom as a path to holiness was in no way particular to Islam; rather, it emerged from a matrix put into place by the Christians of late antiquity. Paying close attention to the role of memory and narrative in the formation of individual and communal selves, Sizgorich identifies a common pool of late ancient narrative forms upon which both Christian and Muslim communities drew. In the process of recollecting the past, Sizgorich explains, Christian and Muslim communities alike elaborated iterations of Christianity or Islam that demanded of each believer a willingness to endure or inflict violence on God's behalf and thereby created militant local pieties that claimed to represent the one "real" Christianity or the only "pure" form of Islam. These militant communities used a shared system of signs, symbols, and stories, stories in which the faithful manifested their purity in conflict with the imperial powers of the world.


Book Synopsis Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity by : Thomas Sizgorich

Download or read book Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity written by Thomas Sizgorich and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2012-03-19 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Violence and Belief in Late Antiquity, Thomas Sizgorich seeks to understand why and how violent expressions of religious devotion became central to the self-understandings of both Christian and Muslim communities between the fourth and ninth centuries. Sizgorich argues that the cultivation of violent martyrdom as a path to holiness was in no way particular to Islam; rather, it emerged from a matrix put into place by the Christians of late antiquity. Paying close attention to the role of memory and narrative in the formation of individual and communal selves, Sizgorich identifies a common pool of late ancient narrative forms upon which both Christian and Muslim communities drew. In the process of recollecting the past, Sizgorich explains, Christian and Muslim communities alike elaborated iterations of Christianity or Islam that demanded of each believer a willingness to endure or inflict violence on God's behalf and thereby created militant local pieties that claimed to represent the one "real" Christianity or the only "pure" form of Islam. These militant communities used a shared system of signs, symbols, and stories, stories in which the faithful manifested their purity in conflict with the imperial powers of the world.