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Theodoret's People sheds new light on religious clashes of the mid-fifth century regarding the nature (or natures) of Christ. Adam M. Schor focuses on Theodoret, bishop of Cyrrhus, his Syrian allies, and his opponents, led by Alexandrian bishops Cyril and Dioscorus. Although both sets of clerics adhered to the Nicene creed, their contrasting theological statements led to hostilities, violence, and the permanent fracturing of the Christian community. Schor closely examines council transcripts, correspondence, and other records of communication. Using social network theory, he argues that Theodo

The article discusses various options for the institutional construction of imperial structures, one way or another identified with the classical empire of Rome. The review covers the Roman tradition proper and the formation of successive versions of the imperial-republican complex. There are two ways of using institutional: direct and direct inheritance with predominantly vertical transfer of properties and indirect perception with predominantly horizontal transfer. The continuation of its modified existence of the Roman tradition in the form of the theocratic symphony of the Kingdom of the Romans (Βασιλεία Ῥωμαίων) in the eastern Mediterranean and Chrysalis (theocracy with a feudalized horizontal and hierarchical vertical) of the Christian Republic (Respublica Christiana) in Western Europe is considered. There are three attempts to restore the completeness of the imperial structure even within the framework of the Western European chrysalis: the successful Charlemagne, not quite successful in the form of the Holy Roman Empire, and the completely unsuccessful efforts of the Plantagenets to establish an empire in the west of the Christian Republic during the Hundred Years' War. Further variants of the already mediated reproduction of the classical Roman orders in the United Kingdom, and then in the United States, as well as in the First French Empire, are being analyzed. Other imperial projects focused on the Roman heritage are also touched upon. The experience of European integration and the EU's use of republican and imperial aspects of the Roman complex, the use of institutional models of the Christian Republic and the Carolingian Empire are discussed. Special attention is paid to the imperial component of the national political tradition. It is shown that in all the cases under consideration, the imperial component is combined with other orders from patrimonial and monarchical to modern (corporate, consociative, federal, etc.). The use of the Roman heritage is carried out in the form of direct reproduction, indirect restoration, partial copying, imitation and even simulation.

Prologue : what is a Christian gift? -- Introduction : philanthropy and asceticism in the first affluent Christian society -- A present-giving world -- Give to all who ask of you : the challenge of early Byzantine philanthropy -- Bend your heart to mercy : giving alms in early Byzantine communities -- With your whole soul : from alms to charity in early Byzantine monasticism -- What God has put in your heart : divine patronage and material blessings -- First fruits of the world : fruitbearings, penance and prosperity in the countryside -- Imperishable remembrance : offerings and the rise of patronal monasteries -- Epilogue : when holy men walked the earth.

"This book demonstrates that the history of Christianity in the fourth century has been written mainly on the basis of Greek ecclesiastical histories and Syriac martyrdom narratives that date to decades, even centuries, after the fact. By closely analyzing these sources--which often exhibit conflicting religious, political, and hagiographical agendas--an evolving portrait of the first Christian emperor begins to emerge. This portrait of Constantine is useful not for re-constructing the events of the fourth century, but for understanding how the Syriac Christians of Roman Mesopotamia and Sasanian Persia used Constantine and the Christians of the West to fashion multiple political and religious identities over a prolonged period of change"--Provided by publisher

"A State of Mixture seeks to resolve the paradox of how East Syrian Christian communities flourished in a Zoroastrian political system, the Iranian Empire. If previous studies have regarded Christians as marginal, insular, and often persecuted, the present book demonstrates their integration into elite networks, adoption of Iranian political practices and imaginaries, and participation in imperial institutions. The rise of Christianity in Iran depended on the Zoroastrian theory and practice of hierarchical, differentiated inclusion, according to which Christians, Jews, and others occupied legitimate places in Iranian political culture in positions subordinate to the imperial religion. Christians, for their part, positioned themselves in a political culture not of their own making with recourse to their own ideological and institutional resources, ranging from the writing of saints' lives to the judicial arbitration of bishops. In placing the social history of East Syrian Christians at the center of the Iranian imperial story, A State of Mixture helps to explain the endurance of a culturally diverse empire across four centuries"--Provided by publisher

Mirage of the Saracen analyzes the growth of monasticism and Christian settlements in the Sinai Peninsula through the early seventh century C.E. Walter D. Ward examines the ways in which Christian monks justified occupying the Sinai through creating associations between Biblical narratives and Sinai sites while assigning uncivilized, negative, and oppositional traits to the indigenous nomadic population, whom the Christians pejoratively called ""Saracens."" By writing edifying tales of hostile nomads and the ensuing martyrdom of the monks, Christians not only reinforced their claims to the spi

This remarkable history foregrounds the most marginal sector of the Roman population, the provincial peasantry, to paint a fascinating new picture of peasant society. Making use of detailed archaeological and textual evidence, Leslie Dossey examines the peasantry in relation to the upper classes in Christian North Africa, tracing that region's social and cultural history from the Punic times to the eve of the Islamic conquest. She demonstrates that during the period when Christianity was spreading to both city and countryside in North Africa, a convergence of economic interests narrowed the ga

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

What has the emperor to do with the church?" : persecution and martyrdom from Diocletian to Constantine -- "The God of the martyrs refuses you" : religious violence, political discourse, and Christian identity in the century after Constantine -- An eye for an eye : religious violence in donatist Africa -- Temperata severitas : Augustine, the state, and disciplinary violence -- "There is no crime for those who have Christ" : holy men and holy violence in the late fourth and early fifth centuries -- "The monks commit many crimes" : holy violence contested -- "Sanctify thy hand by the blow" : problematizing Episcopal power -- Non iudicium sed latrocinium : of Holy Synods and robber councils.