Wandering, Begging Monks

Wandering, Begging Monks PDF Author: Daniel Caner
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520928503
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
An apostolic lifestyle characterized by total material renunciation, homelessness, and begging was practiced by monks throughout the Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries. Such monks often served as spiritual advisors to urban aristocrats whose patronage gave them considerable authority and independence from episcopal control. This book is the first comprehensive study of this type of Christian poverty and the challenge it posed for episcopal authority and the promotion of monasticism in late antiquity. Focusing on devotional practices, Daniel Caner draws together diverse testimony from Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and elsewhere—including the Pseudo-Clementine Letters to Virgins, Augustine's On the Work of Monks, John Chrysostom's homilies, legal codes—to reveal gospel-inspired patterns of ascetic dependency and teaching from the third to the fifth centuries. Throughout, his point of departure is social and cultural history, especially the urban social history of the late Roman empire. He also introduces many charismatic individuals whose struggle to persist against church suppression of their chosen way of imitating Christ was fought with defiant conviction, and the book includes the first annotated English translation of the biography of Alexander Akoimetos (Alexander the Sleepless). Wandering, Begging Monks allows us to understand these fascinating figures of early Christianity in the full context of late Roman society.

Wandering, Begging Monks

Wandering, Begging Monks PDF Author: Daniel Caner
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520928503
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Get Book Here

Book Description
An apostolic lifestyle characterized by total material renunciation, homelessness, and begging was practiced by monks throughout the Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries. Such monks often served as spiritual advisors to urban aristocrats whose patronage gave them considerable authority and independence from episcopal control. This book is the first comprehensive study of this type of Christian poverty and the challenge it posed for episcopal authority and the promotion of monasticism in late antiquity. Focusing on devotional practices, Daniel Caner draws together diverse testimony from Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and elsewhere—including the Pseudo-Clementine Letters to Virgins, Augustine's On the Work of Monks, John Chrysostom's homilies, legal codes—to reveal gospel-inspired patterns of ascetic dependency and teaching from the third to the fifth centuries. Throughout, his point of departure is social and cultural history, especially the urban social history of the late Roman empire. He also introduces many charismatic individuals whose struggle to persist against church suppression of their chosen way of imitating Christ was fought with defiant conviction, and the book includes the first annotated English translation of the biography of Alexander Akoimetos (Alexander the Sleepless). Wandering, Begging Monks allows us to understand these fascinating figures of early Christianity in the full context of late Roman society.

Wandering, Begging Monks

Wandering, Begging Monks PDF Author: Daniel Folger Caner
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN: 0520344561
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
An apostolic lifestyle characterized by total material renunciation, homelessness, and begging was practiced by monks throughout the Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries. Such monks often served as spiritual advisors to urban aristocrats whose patronage gave them considerable authority and independence from episcopal control. This book is the first comprehensive study of this type of Christian poverty and the challenge it posed for episcopal authority and the promotion of monasticism in late antiquity. Focusing on devotional practices, Daniel Caner draws together diverse testimony from Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and elsewhere—including the Pseudo-Clementine Letters to Virgins, Augustine's On the Work of Monks, John Chrysostom's homilies, legal codes—to reveal gospel-inspired patterns of ascetic dependency and teaching from the third to the fifth centuries. Throughout, his point of departure is social and cultural history, especially the urban social history of the late Roman empire. He also introduces many charismatic individuals whose struggle to persist against church suppression of their chosen way of imitating Christ was fought with defiant conviction, and the book includes the first annotated English translation of the biography of Alexander Akoimetos (Alexander the Sleepless). Wandering, Begging Monks allows us to understand these fascinating figures of early Christianity in the full context of late Roman society.

Wandering, Begging Monks, Social Order and the Promotion of Monasticism in the Roman East, 360-451 CE

Wandering, Begging Monks, Social Order and the Promotion of Monasticism in the Roman East, 360-451 CE PDF Author: Daniel Folger Caner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description


Wandering, Begging Monks, Social Order and the Promotion of Monasticism in the Roman East, 360-451 CE

Wandering, Begging Monks, Social Order and the Promotion of Monasticism in the Roman East, 360-451 CE PDF Author: Daniel Caner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Asceticism
Languages : en
Pages : 518

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Book Description


The Rich and the Pure

The Rich and the Pure PDF Author: Daniel Caner
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520381599
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
A portrait of history’s first complex Christian society as seen through the lens of Christian philanthropy and gift giving As the Roman Empire broke down in western Europe, its prosperity moved decisively eastward, to what is now known as the Byzantine Empire. Here was born history’s first truly affluent, multifaceted Christian society. One of the ideals used to unite the diverse millions of people living in this vast realm was the Christianized ideal of philanthrōpia. In this sweeping cultural and social history, Daniel Caner shows how philanthropy required living up to Jesus’s injunction to “Give to all who ask of you,” by offering mercy and/or material aid to every human being, regardless of their origin or status. Caner shows how Christian philanthropy became articulated through distinct religious ideals of giving that helped define proper social relations among the rich, the poor, and “the pure” (Christian holy people), resulting in new and enduring social expectations. In tracking the evolution of Christian giving over three centuries, he brings to the fore the concerns of the peoples of Early Byzantium, from the countryside to the lower levels of urban society to the imperial elites, as well as the hierarchical relationships that arose among them. The Rich and the Pure offers nothing less than a portrait of the whole of early Byzantine society.

Das Konzil von Chalcedon und die Kirche

Das Konzil von Chalcedon und die Kirche PDF Author: Sandra Leuenberger-Wenger
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004406581
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 635

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Book Description
In Das Konzil von Chalcedon und die Kirche Sandra Leuenberger-Wenger offers a new perspective on the council of Chalcedon, analyzing the rich material of its acts. Leuenberger-Wenger shows the entanglement of the Christological debate with other fields of conflict concerning the status and authority of different episcopal sees and of monasticism in the church. The study emphasizes the importance of the traditionally neglected second part of the council with its canons and resolutions and argues that these regulations had a deep impact on the structures of the church as well as on the reception of the council and its definition of faith. The evaluation of a wide range of sources places the refusal of the definition of faith in the broader context of the transformation processes of the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity and the rejection of an increasingly institutionalized Byzantine Church. In Das Konzil von Chalcedon und die Kirche entwirft Sandra Leuenberger-Wenger anhand der Konzilsakten ein neues Bild von der Bedeutung dieses Konzils für die Kirche. Sie zeigt die Verknüpfung des christologischen Streits mit weiteren kirchlichen Konfliktfeldern wie dem Status und der Autorität einzelner Bischofssitze und des Mönchtums. Die Untersuchung betont die Bedeutung des zweiten Konzilsteils für die Entwicklung der Kirche und macht deutlich, wie die Regulierungen auf kirchenpolitischer und struktureller Ebene die Rezeption des Konzils entscheidend mitbestimmten. Die Auswertung eines breiten Quellenmaterials verortet das Konzil und seine schwierige Rezeption in den spätantiken Transformationsprozessen des Römischen Reichs im Übergang zum Mittelalter und deutet die Konflikte um die Glaubensdefinition im Horizont der umfassenderen Ablehnung einer zunehmend institutionalisierten byzantinischen Reichskirche.

Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches

Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches PDF Author: Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520284968
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
Missionary Stories and the Formation of the Syriac Churches analyzes the hagiographic traditions of seven missionary saints in the Syriac heritage during late antiquity: Thomas, Addai, Mari, John of Ephesus, Simeon of Beth Arsham, Jacob Baradaeus, and Ahudemmeh. Jeanne-Nicole Mellon Saint-Laurent studies a body of legends about the missionariesÕ voyages in the Syrian Orient to illustrate their shared symbols and motifs. Revealing how these texts encapsulated the concerns of the communities that produced them, she draws attention to the role of hagiography as a malleable genre that was well-suited for the idealized presentation of the beginnings of Christian communities. Hagiographers, through their reworking of missionary themes, asserted autonomy, orthodoxy, and apostolicity for their individual civic and monastic communities, positioning themselves in relationship to the rulers of their empires and to competing forms of Christianity. Saint-Laurent argues that missionary hagiography is an important and neglected source for understanding the development of the East and West Syriac ecclesiastical bodies: the Syrian Orthodox Church and the Church of the East. Given that many of these Syriac-speaking churches remain today in the Middle East and India, with diaspora communities in Europe and North America, this work opens the door for further study of the role of saints and stories as symbolic links between ancient and modern traditions.

The Rhetoric of Power in Late Antiquity

The Rhetoric of Power in Late Antiquity PDF Author: Elizabeth DePalma Digeser
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 085771919X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
Late Antiquity, the period of transition from the crisis of Roman Empire in the third century to the Middle Ages, has traditionally been considered only in terms of the 'decline' from classical standards. Recent classical scholarship strives to consider this period on its own terms. Taking the reign of Constantine the Great as its starting point, this book examines the unique intersection of rhetoric, religion and politics in Late Antiquity. Expert scholars come together to examine ancient rhetorical texts to explore the ways in which late antique authors drew upon classical traditions, presenting Roman and post-Roman religious and political institutions in order to establish a desired image of a 'new era'. This book provides new insights into how the post-Roman Germanic West, Byzantine East and Muslim South appropriated and transformed the political, intellectual and cultural legacy inherited from the late Roman Empire and its borderlands.

Theodoret's People

Theodoret's People PDF Author: Adam M. Schor
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520948610
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
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 Theodoret’s doctrinal coalition was actually a meaningful community, bound by symbolic words and traditions, riven with internal rivalries, and embedded in a wider world of elite friendship and patronage.

The Cultural Turn in Late Ancient Studies

The Cultural Turn in Late Ancient Studies PDF Author: Philip Rousseau
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822386682
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
The essays in this provocative collection exemplify the innovations that have characterized the relatively new field of late ancient studies. Focused on civilizations clustered mainly around the Mediterranean and covering the period between roughly 100 and 700 CE, scholars in this field have brought history and cultural studies to bear on theology and religious studies. They have adopted the methods of the social sciences and humanities—particularly those of sociology, cultural anthropology, and literary criticism. By emphasizing cultural and social history and considerations of gender and sexuality, scholars of late antiquity have revealed the late ancient world as far more varied than had previously been imagined. The contributors investigate three key concerns of late ancient studies: gender, asceticism, and historiography. They consider Macrina’s scar, Mary’s voice, and the harlot’s body as well as Augustine, Jovinian, Gregory of Nazianzus, Julian, and Ephrem the Syrian. Whether examining how animal bodies figured as a means for understanding human passion and sexuality in the monastic communities of Egypt and Palestine or meditating on the almost modern epistemological crisis faced by Theodoret in attempting to overcome the barriers between the self and the wider world, these essays highlight emerging theoretical and critical developments in the field. Contributors. Daniel Boyarin, David Brakke, Virginia Burrus, Averil Cameron, Susanna Elm, James E. Goehring, Susan Ashbrook Harvey, David G. Hunter, Blake Leyerle, Dale B. Martin, Patricia Cox Miller, Philip Rousseau, Teresa M. Shaw, Maureen A. Tilley, Dennis E. Trout, Mark Vessey