Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity: Towards a Christian Empire

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Univ of Wisconsin Press, 1992 - History - 182 pages
Peter Brown, perhaps the greatest living authority on Mediterranean civilization in late antiquity, traces the growing power of Christian bishops as they wrested influence from philosophers, who had traditionally advised the rulers of Graeco-Roman society. In the new "Christian empire," the ancient bonds of citizen to citizen and of each city to its benefactors were replaced by a common Christianity and common loyalty to a distant, Christian autocrat. This transformation of the Roman empire from an ancient to a medieval society, he argues, is among the most far-reaching consequences of the rise of Christianity.
 

Contents

Autocracy and Elites
3
Towards a Christian Empire
118

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About the author (1992)

Peter Brown is the Rollins Professor of History at Princeton University. He has also taught at Oxford University, the University of London, and the University of California. Among his many books are The Body and Society, The Cult of the Saints, Society and the Holy in Late Antiquity, and Augustine of Hippo.