Late Ancient Christianity

A People's History of Christianity #2

by Virginia Burrus (editor)

The particular excitement of this volume lies in its focus on the everyday realities of Christians' lives in the era of Christian ascendancy and Roman decline. Popular fiction, childrearing and toys, rituals of inclusion, the beginning of veneration of saints and shunning of heretics, the ascetic impulse, food practices all these and more lend color and texture to the story of a people's Christianity in this formative stage.

Genres: History, Religion, Christianity

318 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2005

About the author

A native of Texas, Virginia Burrus received her B.A. (1981) in Classical Civilization from Yale College, and her M.A. (1984) and Ph.D. (1991) in History of Christianity from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. Currently the the Bishop W. Earl Ledden Professor of Religion at Syracuse University, she had previously taught in Drew University's Theological School and Graduate Division of Religion.

Dr. Burrus's teaching and research interests in the field of ancient Christianity include: gender, sexuality, and the body; martyrdom and asceticism; ancient novels and hagiography; constructions of orthodoxy and heresy; histories of theology and historical theologies. She is past President of the North American Patristics Society, Associate Editor of the Journal of Early Christian Studies, and co-editor of the University of Pennsylvania Press series "Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion."

Reviews

[Brian Hutzell · Rating 4 out of 5]

[I found my attention wandering during some of these essays more than it did while reading Volume 1 of the series. It would be wrong of me to assign blame for that to the writing, however. The past two months have been particularly busy and stressful for me, and my studying capacity has been somewhat suboptimal.]

The time period covered in this volume is roughly the Constantinian Age, give or take a century or two. Chapters cover Christian history from a wide variety of angles, all of them attempting to see history not through a “Great Man” lens as is so often the case, but more from the trenches filled with ordinary people going about their ordinary routines.

I look forward to diving into the next volume in this fascinating series!

[Margie Dorn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mostly very interesting and thought-provoking, though the last article on local ancient religions was too esoteric for me and said too little with too many words. What surprised me the most was the way it was shown in the first article that status differences could be maintained despite the ostensible yielding of worldly goods by the rich. And I was shocked by the vituperative preaching of such "saints" as Chrysostom against Jews. When I study Church History I find that many times I do not like "my people."

[AskHistorians]

Most studies of the early Church focus on theology: theologians, councils, texts, hashing out the basics of Christian doctrine in a combative political and military environment. What about, you know, actual Christians? This anthology brings together investigations of "lived Christianity" from top scholars in the field, looking at everything from children's play to how heresy and heretics were really defined in day-to-day interactions, not from assassinating Arius in a bathroom.

[Dan Brunner · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there are important overall themes to be considered re: social history, the text itself gets bogged down in academic details too esoteric for the average seminarian. I found some useful lecture material and the Introduction is worth reading, but it is hard to recommend the whole collection.