Daniel Caner

I’m a social historian interested in how Christianity evolved in antiquity. I focus on monasticism to highlight challenges of translating its more radical ideals into Roman society.

My first book, Wandering, Begging Monks: Spiritual Authority and the Promotion of Monasticism in Late Antiquity, explores how early notions of apostolic poverty became a serious concern for church leaders. History and Hagiography from the Late Antique Sinai deals with the Christianization of this previously undeveloped corner of the Roman Empire.

My new book, The Rich and the Pure: Philanthropy and the Making of Christian Society in Early Byzantium, is about ethical issues raised by Christian wealth, each chapter explaining a different gift ideal. “For now, and for any foreseeable time to come, this will be ‘the’ book on the roots of Christian wealth and charity,” writes a reviewer.

After teaching in Greece and obtaining my PhD from Berkeley, I taught at the University of Connecticut. Since 2016 I’ve been at Indiana University in Bloomington. I’ve been honored with an NEH and research positions at Harvard’s Dumbarton Oaks, NYU’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, and Hebrew University’s Institute for Advanced Study.

I spend summers in Vermont, mostly on a motorcycle.