This groundbreaking study brings into dialogue for the first time the writings of Julian, the last non-Christian Roman Emperor, and his most outspoken critic, Bishop Gregory of Nazianzus, a central ...figure of Christianity. Susanna Elm compares these two men not to draw out the obvious contrast between the Church and the Emperor's neo-Paganism, but rather to find their common intellectual and social grounding. Her insightful analysis, supplemented by her magisterial command of sources, demonstrates the ways in which both men were part of the same dialectical whole. Elm recasts both Julian and Gregory as men entirely of their times, showing how the Roman Empire in fact provided Christianity with the ideological and social matrix without which its longevity and dynamism would have been inconceivable.
A rare scholarly attempt to focus on the last decade of Augustine’s life, this volume highlights the themes and concerns that occupied the aged bishop of Hippo and led him to formulate some of his ...central notions in the most radical fashion. Augustine of Hippo’s last decade from 420 to 430 witnessed the completion of some of his most infl uential works, from the City of God to the Unfi nished Work against Julian of Eclanum, from On the Trinity to the Literal Commentary on Genesis. During this period Augustine remained fully engaged as bishop and administrator, but also began to curate his legacy, revising his previous works and pushing many of his earlier ideas to novel and at times radical conclusions. Yet, this last period of Augustine’s life has received only modest scholarly attention. With a cast of international scholars, the present volume opens a conversation and makes the case that the late (wild) Augustine deserves at least as much attention as the Augustine of the Confessions.
...Salvian offers a sustained criticism of contemporary Roman society as a whole.45 Even though individual Romans may live the life of a sanctus, a true Christian, society as a whole has been ...woefully inadequate in obeying the commandments of the Law (GD 3.29).46 Romans read the gospel and then proceeded to turn their houses into brothels, nearly kill their neighbors through excessive taxation, defraud fellow Romans of their land, rob them of their freedom, gorge themselves on lavish meals while others starve, and lust for the theater and the games while the corpses of their fellow Romans pile up six deep along the walls of their smoldering cities, savaged by wild dogs.47 In sum, they had no excuse: they knew what they should do; they were fully cognizant of the divine commandments; they saw divine correction in action, but ignored and trampled it underfoot in an act of willful rebellion (GD 5.12).48 As a consequence, second, Romans lost (or had almost lost) the privileges that being Roman entailed. ...God chose the present punishments accordingly and granted victory to the barbarians: "Are we surprised that the barbarians capture us, when we make captives of our own brothers?"49 Salvian's continuing conviction that in effect Romans are superior to barbarians, just as Roman ideology demands, is implicit in his interpretation of the significance of the barbarian victories.50 This is the very premise of his point. Once upon a time Romans were just, virtuous and victorious, and hence they have been granted the privilege of the divine law as a means to better themselves even further, but instead they had rebelled.51 Consequently, their utter failure to fulfill their obligations robbed them of their very Romanitas. Because Romans, that is, Catholic Christians, lost the privileges of their Roman-ness, barbarian peoples are now not only militarily superior, but, even more importantly, morally superior as well.52 That is the meaning of the present crisis, as God's chosen punishment makes crystal clear-those who can now claim the privileges and obligations of the Romans are the barbarians, who are, or have the chance to become, according to Salvian, the new Romans. ...Carthage's extraordinary wealth also caused its male inhabitants to dress as women and to engage in homosexual acts.88 By the same token, for Christian authors effeminate men-in an adaptation of classic tropes that equated homosexuality with barbarian mores-were prone to idol worship and other forms of paganism and Salvian complies here, too.89 "Among the most powerful and the most noble," nota bene amongst the Christian most powerful and noble, reigns idol worship.90 Both in secret and quite openly, they continue to venerate the goddess Caelestis (or Tanit), "that demon of the Africans, to whom I believe the pagans of old gave such a striking name . .
Theoretically, ugliness as aesthetic concept--more than the absence of beauty--first came to the fore in the 19th century. This contribution uses the late Latin poet Claudian (370–404 CE) to show ...that his invective epic against the consul and eunuch Eutropius (d. 399 CE) already created a notion of ugliness through the juxtaposition of the splendid consular robes and the "ugliness" of Eutropius's body.
Theoretically, ugliness as aesthetic concept—more than the absence of beauty—first came to the fore in the 19th century. This contribution uses the late Latin poet Claudian (370–404 CE) to show that ...his invective epic against the consul and eunuch Eutropius (d. 399 CE) already created a notion of ugliness through the juxtaposition of the splendid consular robes and the "ugliness" of Eutropius's body.
Historians of religion face complex interpretive issues when examining religious texts, practices, and experiences. Faithful Narratives presents the work of twelve eminent scholars whose research has ...exemplified compelling strategies for negotiating the difficulties inherent in this increasingly important area of historical inquiry. The chapters range chronologically from Late Antiquity to modern America and thematically from the spirituality of near eastern monks to women's agency in religion, considering familiar religious communities alongside those on the margins and bringing a range of spiritual and religious practices into historical focus.
Focusing on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the essays address matters central to the study of religion in history, in particular texts and traditions of authority, interreligious discourse, and religious practice and experience. Some examine mainstream communities and traditions, others explore individuals who crossed religious or confessional boundaries, and still others study the peripheries of what is considered orthodox religious tradition. Encompassing a wide geographical as well as chronological scope, Faithful Narratives illustrates the persistence of central themes and common analytical challenges for historians working in all periods.
Contributors: Peter Brown, Princeton University; Nina Caputo, University of Florida; Carlos Eire, Yale University; Susanna Elm, University of California, Berkeley; Anthony Grafton, Princeton University; Susannah Heschel, Dartmouth College; Phyllis Mack, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Kenneth Mills, University of Toronto; David Nirenberg, University of Chicago; Mark A. Noll, University of Notre Dame; David B. Ruderman, University of Pennsylvania; Lamin Sanneh, Yale University; Andrea Sterk, University of Florida; John Van Engen, University of Notre Dame.
THEODORET Elm, Susanna
The Classical Review,
10/2004, Volume:
54, Issue:
2
Journal Article, Book Review
Peer reviewed
Reviews T. Urbainczyk' "Theodoret of Cyrrhus. The Bishop and the Holy Man". Theodoret was the 5C C.E. bishop of Cyrrhus in Northern Syria and is one of several so-called Fathers of the Church. ...Urbainczyk proposes to read Theodoret's work less as a straightforward account of the lives of its central characters, the Syrian ascetics, but rather as Theodoret's wish to show that he was an extraordinary bishop with an army of remarkable monks behind him, the equal of any Egyptian.
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9.
Braut Christi Vinken, Barbara; Elm, Susanna
2016
eBook
An der Braut Christi zeigt sich die christliche Revolution: die Umwälzung der herrschenden, gewalttätigen Geschlechter-, Klassen- und Rassenverhältnisse. Wie an keiner anderen Figur lässt sich an ihr ...die Liebes- und Erkenntnislehre des Christentums illustrieren. Die Brandmarkung der durch sie symbolisierten Lebensform als pervers und hysterisch war Ziel aller Reformatoren von Luther bis Zola. Doch ist die Liebe in der Moderne ohne die Braut Christi nicht zu denken. Ex negativo lassen sich an ihr die Werte und Normen der Moderne ablesen. Als Figur unendlichen Begehrens zeitigt die sponsa eine mystische Liebessprache, eine Brautmystik, die sich über das Mittelalter bis zu Baudelaire und Proust fortschreibt. Die sponsa ist als genuin textuelles Phänomen lesbar, an dem sich Exegese und das Verhältnis von Buchstäblichkeit und Allegorese neu verhandeln lassen. Das Lektüreschicksal der sponsa Christi ist unter den theoretischen Voraussetzungen der neueren Geschichtsforschung zu einem bedeutenden Paradigma geworden. An diesem lassen sich die komplexen Verflechtungen von religions-, kunst- und literaturwissenschaftlichen Aspekten der konfliktbeladenen Ausprägung von Geschlechterdifferenz neu abschätzen und -lesen.
Studies engaged in reconstructing the interplay between center and periphery in the later Roman Empire are often challenged by the comparative silence at the center. While the periphery, especially ...the periphery very close to the center, speaks a good deal—through men such as Symmachus, Augustine, and Cassiodorus—the center itself does so in inverse proportion to its significance. Leading military commanders and top civilian administrators did not leave abundant records in their own words.¹ Nor did most emperors. Though we are able to glean imperial intent from legislation, often in the form of letters preserved in later editions such
