The End of Ancient Christianity - Softcover

Robert A. Markus

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521339499 ISBN 13: 9780521339490

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1991

Synopsis

This study is concerned with one, central historical problem: the nature of the changes that transformed the intellectual and spiritual horizons of the Christian world from its establishment in the fourth century to the end of the sixth. Why, for example, were the assumptions, attitudes and traditions of Gregory the Great so markedly different from those of Augustine? The End of Ancient Christianity examines how Christians, who had formerly constituted a threatened and beleaguered minority, came to define their identity in a changed context of religious respectability in which their faith had become a source of privilege, prestige and power. Professor Markus reassesses the cult of the martyrs and the creation of schemes of sacred time and sacred space, and analyzes the appeal of asceticism and its impact on the Church at large. These changes form part of a fundamental transition, perhaps best described as the shift from "Ancient" toward "Medieval" forms of Christianity; from an older and more diverse secular culture towards a religious culture with a firm Biblical basis.

About this title

From the Back Cover

This study is concerned with one central historical problem; the nature of the changes that transformed the intellectual and spiritual horizons of the Christian world from its establishment in the fourth century to the end of the sixth.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521339499
• ISBN 13: 9780521339490
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 258