Christian Political Cultures in Late Antiquity

Robin Whelan is Senior Lecturer in Mediterranean History, University of Liverpool. He has published widely on the political, cultural, and religious history of the later Roman Empire, the post-imperial West, and early Byzantium. Richard Flower is Professor of Classics and Late Antiquity, University of Exeter. He specialises in the fourth and fifth centuries, particularly the impact of Christianity on society, politics and culture. Meaghan McEvoy is Senior Lecturer in History, Australian National University. She specialises in politics, rulership, religion and gender in the later Roman empire and early Byzantium.

• Introduction: The New Normal? Making and contesting Christian political authorityRichard Flower, Meaghan McEvoy and Robin WhelanPopular Perceptions and Communal ContextsChapter 1: Apocalyptic sovereignty in late ancient Gaul: local ideology and the Constantinian courtElizabeth DePalma DigeserChapter 2: The father, the son(s) and the holy bird: contextualising the Constantinian appropriation of the phoenix from ancient popular cultureRyan DensonChapter 3: Translating Christian authority: Greek and Latin in the western church in late antiquityAlison JohnPolitical Cultures of MasculinityChapter 4: Late Roman imperial masculinities: Pacatus’ praise of TheodosiusSusanna ElmChapter 5: A bishop and pimp: political scandal in Theodoret’s Ecclesiastical HistoryJennifer BarryPolitical PietyChapter 6: ‘Defending the glory of God’: Cyril of Alexandria’s interactions with the Roman EmpireMatthew CrawfordChapter 7: The lack of distinctiveness in Homoian political practiceConor O’BrienChapter 8: Emperors, governors and the nature of rulership in the eyes of ordinary people in the seventh-century EastYannis Papadogiannakis and Petros TsagkaropoulosSaints and the stateChapter 9: The political lives of the saints: Roman identities and balancing acts in Christian martyrology and hagiographyBenjamin KolbeckChapter 10: Politics and piety: martyr saints and emperors presented in hagiography preserved in CopticChloé AgarChapter 11: The Augusta’s excessive care: the potential of the empress in governing the Christian empireAlexander Thies