Christianity In The Later Roman Empire A Sourcebook

This sourcebook gathers into a single collection the writings that illuminate one of the most fundamental periods in the history of Christian Europe. Beginning from the Great Persecution of Diocletian and the conversion of Constantine the first Christian Roman emperor, the volume explores Christianity's rise as the dominant religion of the Later Roman empire and how the Church survived the decline and fall of Roman power in the west and converted the Germanic tribes who swept into the western empire. These years of crisis and transformation inspired generations of great writers, among them Eusebius of Caesarea, Ammianus Marcellinus, Julian 'the Apostate', Ambrose of Milan, John Chrysostom, Jerome and Augustine of Hippo. They were also years which saw Christianity face huge challenges on many crucial questions, from the evolution of Christian doctrine and the rise of asceticism to the place of women in the early Church and the emerging relationship between Church and state. All these themes will be made accessible to specialists and general readers alike, and the sourcebook will be invaluable for students and teachers of courses in history and church history, the world of late antiquity, and religious studies.

In Pagans and Christians in Late Antiquity, A.D. Lee documents the transformation of the religious landscape of the Roman world from one of enormous diversity of religious practices and creeds in the 3rd century to a situation where, by the 6th century, Christianity had become the dominant religious force. Using translated extracts from contemporary sources he examines the fortunes of pagans and Christians from the upheavals of the 3rd Century, through the dramatic events associated with the emperors Constantine, Julian and Theodosius in the 4th, to the increasingly tumultuous times of the 5th and 6th centuries, while also illustrating important themes in late antique Christianity such as the growth of monasticism, the emerging power of bishops and the development of pilgrimage, as well as the fate of other significant religious groups including Jews and Manichaeans. This new edition has been updated to include: additional documentary material, including newly published papyri an expanded chapter on the emperor Constantine greater attention to church controversies in the fourth and fifth centuries thoroughly updated references and further reading, taking into account developments in modern scholarship during the past fifteen years. Pagans and Christians in Late Antiquity is an invaluable resource for students of the late antique world, and of early Christianity and the early Church.

Das Buch präsentiert eine Vielzahl an Quellen des 1. bis 7. Jh.s., welche das Problem der religiösen Gewalt hinsichtlich der Christianisierung des Römischen Reiches und der germanischen Nachfolgestaaten veranschaulichen. Die Quellen werden in den Originalsprachen und neuen Übersetzungen dargeboten und sind mit Einleitungen, Kommentaren und Kurzbibliographien versehen.

This sourcebook gathers into a single collection the writings that illuminate one of the most fundamental periods in the history of Christian Europe. Beginning from the Great Persecution of Diocletian and the conversion of Constantine the first Christian Roman emperor, the volume explores Christianity's rise as the dominant religion of the Later Roman empire and how the Church survived the decline and fall of Roman power in the west and converted the Germanic tribes who swept into the western empire. These years of crisis and transformation inspired generations of great writers, among them Eusebius of Caesarea, Ammianus Marcellinus, Julian 'the Apostate', Ambrose of Milan, John Chrysostom, Jerome and Augustine of Hippo. They were also years which saw Christianity face huge challenges on many crucial questions, from the evolution of Christian doctrine and the rise of asceticism to the place of women in the early Church and the emerging relationship between Church and state. All these themes will be made accessible to specialists and general readers alike, and the sourcebook will be invaluable for students and teachers of courses in history and church history, the world of late antiquity, and religious studies.

This volume seeks to make accessible to students a multiplicity of texts which illuminate the history, culture, medicine, philosophy, religion and peoples of late antiquity.

This book is a collection of nearly 175 documents?from saints, emperors, philosophers, satirists, inscriptions, graffiti, and other interesting types?that sheds light on the complex fabric of religious belief as it changed from a variety of non-Judeo-Christian movements to Christian in late antiquity. These texts illuminate and bring to life the bizarre and the banal of the social world of the Roman Empire, the world in which Christianity ultimately gained preeminence. This treasury of texts leads the reader through the matrix of beliefs among which Christianity grew. It includes both Christian and non-Christian sources, avoiding a common but obscuring division between the two. The material is presented as one single flow that satisfies natural curiosity and whets the reader's appetite for more. Brief explanatory introductions to the documents are included.

Late Antiquity (ca. 250-650) witnessed the transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages in the Mediterranean and Near Eastern worlds. Christianity displaced polytheism over a wide area, offering new definitions of identity and community. The Roman Empire collapsed in Western Europe to be replaced by new "Germanic" kingdoms. In the East, Byzantium emerged, while the Persian Empire reached its apogee and collapsed. Arab armies carrying the banner of Islam reshaped the political map and brought the late antique era to a close. This sourcebook illustrates the dramatic political, social and religious transformations of Late Antiquity through the words of the men and women who experienced them. Drawing from Greek, Latin, Syriac, Hebrew, Coptic, Persian, Arabic and Armenian sources, the carefully chosen passages illuminate the lives of emperors, abbesses, aristocrats, slaves, children, barbarian chieftains, and saints . The Roman Empire is kept at the centre of the discussion, with chapters devoted to its government, cities, army, law, medicine, domestic life, philosophy, Christianity, polytheism, and Jews. Further chapters deal with the peoples who surrounded the Roman state: Persians, Huns, northern "Germanic" barbarians, and the followers of Islam. This revised and updated second edition provides an expanded view of Late Antiquity with a new chapter on domestic life, as well extra material throughout, including passages that appear for the first time in English translation. Readings in Late Antiquity is the only sourcebook that covers such a wide range of topics over the full breadth of the late antique period.