Re-examines the 'Arian' opposition to Ambrose in Milan, arguing that he misrepresented it to suit his own agenda as bishop.

Ambrose, the first patrician bishop and a prolific writer of a broad range of works, presents numerous opportunities for interdisciplinary research. His participation in many social groups, sometimes at odds with each other, and sometimes overlapping, demanded flexibility. The result is a protean figure, whose motives are not always clear. His own works and those of the scholars who contribute to this volume are accordingly multidisciplinary. Fields such as theology (especially historical theology), history, classics, philosophy, linguistics, and aesthetics, among others, and the recent international research that belongs to them nuance the volume’s investigation of Ambrose’s actions and motivations. The reader will find that Ambrose’s efforts to create and to strengthen social cohesion included building relationships and erecting social structures set on the foundations of Nicaean Christianity against heresy and paganism. A fusion of Graeco-Roman and Judeo-Christian intellectual traditions reinforced the solidarity Ambrose promoted. These endeavors met with success then, and continue to do so now, as indicated by the modern community of scholars found within this book.

FINALIST: THE CUNDILL HISTORY PRIZE 2023 The vibrant and surprising lives of the women in Augustine's Confessions While many know of Saint Augustine and his Confessions, few are aware of how his life and thought were influenced by women. Queens of a Fallen World tells a story of betrayal, love, and ambition in the ancient world as seen through a woman's eyes. Historian Kate Cooper introduces us to four women whose hopes and plans collided in Augustine's early adulthood: his mother, Monnica of Thagaste; his lover; his fiancée; and Justina, the troubled empress of ancient Rome. Drawing upon their depictions in the Confessions, Cooper skilfully reconstructs their lives against the backdrop of their fourth-century society. Though they came from different walks of life, each found her own way of prevailing in a world ruled by men. A refreshingly complex and compelling portrait of Augustine, Queens of a Fallen World is the riveting story of four remarkable women who set him on course to change history.

A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. What is the purpose of a church? Who owns a church? Mary K. Farag persuasively demonstrates that three groups in late antiquity were concerned with these questions: Christian leaders, wealthy laypersons, and lawmakers. Conflicting answers usually coexisted, but from time to time they clashed and caused significant tension. In these disputes, juridical regulations and opinions mattered more than has been traditionally recognized. Considering familiar Christian controversies in novel ways, Farag’s investigation shows that scholarship has misunderstood well-known religious figures by ignoring the legal issues they faced. This seminal text nuances vital aspects of scholarly conversations on sacred space, gift giving, wealth, and poverty in the late antique Mediterranean world, making use not only of Latin and Greek sources but also Coptic and Arabic evidence.

These sermons by Ambrose of Milan (340–397 AD) provide a window into the preaching and scriptural exegesis of the legendary bishop, whose exposition of the Old Testament was instrumental in the conversion of Augustine of Hippo and in the development of Latin theology. In his treatise On Noah and his two Defenses for David, Ambrose borrows from influential Greek theologians, including Philo of Alexandria, Origen, and Didymus the Blind, while developing his own commentary on the exemplary patriarchs. Ambrose’s exegesis typifies both his attention to the letter of Scripture as well as his spiritual and allegorical reading of the holy figures or “saints” who lived before Christ. The first treatise presents Noah as a model just man, as Ambrose pairs the literal and the higher or spiritual meaning of the Genesis flood narrative to address topics ranging from the Genesis narrative to Stoic ethics to the Incarnation. In his defense of David to the emperor Theodosius, Ambrose ties David’s sin and repentance to his own close reading of Psalm 51(50), David’s plea for himself in his famous “Miserere.” While the authenticity of the third treatise included in the volume, the Second Apology of David, has long been challenged, recent scholarship suggests that it transmits Ambrose’s own preaching, which applies the lessons of David’s life to the situation of gentile unbelievers, Jews, and the church; even if it is the work of a later imitator, the Second Apology is a compelling and systematic treatment of the David’s sin and repentance as relevant to Christian morality and doctrine. The three treatises, previously unavailable in English translation, broaden our understanding of exegesis in the Latin West and our interpretation of Ambrose as preacher and exegete.

Being Christian in Vandal Africa investigates conflicts over Christian orthodoxy in the Vandal kingdom, the successor to Roman rule in North Africa, ca. 439 to 533 c.e. Exploiting neglected texts, author Robin Whelan exposes a sophisticated culture of disputation between Nicene ("Catholic") and Homoian ("Arian") Christians and explores their rival claims to political and religious legitimacy. These contests--sometimes violent--are key to understanding the wider and much-debated issues of identity and state formation in the post-imperial West.

This volume explores the transformation of public space and administrative activities in republican and imperial Rome through an interdisciplinary examination of the topography of power. Throughout the Roman world building projects created spaces for different civic purposes, such as hosting assemblies, holding senate meetings, the administration of justice, housing the public treasury, and the management of the city through different magistracies, offices, and even archives. These administrative spaces – both open and closed – characterised Roman life throughout the Republic and High Empire until the administrative and judicial transformations of the fourth century CE. This volume explores urban development and the dynamics of administrative expansion, linking them with some of the most recent archaeological discoveries. In doing so, it examines several facets of the transformation of Roman administration over this period, considering new approaches to and theories on the uses of public space and incorporating new work in Roman studies that focuses on the spatial needs of human users, rather than architectural style and design. This fascinating collection of essays is of interest to students and scholars working on Roman space and urbanism, Roman governance, and the running of the Roman Empire more broadly.