Authority and the Sacred
Subtitle: Aspects of the Christianisation of the Roman World (Canto original series)
Edition: New Ed edition
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: August 28, 1997
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 107
ISBN-13: 9780521595575
Subjects: Christianity; European history: BCE to c 500 CE; History - General History; Religion; Ancient Rome; Ancient - Rome; Christianity - General; Christianity - History - General; Church history - Primitive and early church,; Church history - Primitive and early church, ca.30-600; History / Europe / General; History-Ancient - Rome; Religion / Christianity; Religion-Christianity - History - General
First sentence: FACED BY A TOPIC AS LABYRINTHINE AS THE PROBLEM OF Christianisation, it is a relief to begin with a person for whom the problem apparently caused little trouble.
Description: The Christianization of the Roman world lies at the root of modern Europe. Peter Brown's fascinating study examines the factors that proved decisive and the compromises that made the emergence of the Christian conception of existence possible: how the old gods of the Roman Empire could be reinterpreted as symbols to further the message of the Church. Peter Brown also shows how Christian holy men were less representative of a triumphant faith than negotiators of a working compromise between the new faith and traditional ways of dealing with the supernatural worlds. -- Amazon