Title: Athanasius and Constantius
First published: 1993
Description: As the high-ranking Bishop of Alexandria from 328 to 373, Athanasius came into conflict with no fewer than four Roman emperors -- Constantine himself, his son Constantius, Julian the Apostate, and the "Arian" Valens. In this new reconstruction of Athanasius's career, Timothy D. Barnes analyzes the nature and extent of the Bishop's power, especially as it intersected with the policies of these emperors. Repeatedly condemned and deposed by church councils, the Bishop persistently resurfaced as a player to contend with in ecclesiastic and imperial politics. Barnes's work reveals that Athanasius's writings, though a significant source for this period, are riddled with deliberate misinterpretations, which historians through the ages have uncritically accepted. Untangling longstanding misconceptions, Barnes reveals the Bishop's true role in the struggles within Christianity, and in the relations between the Roman emperor and the Church at a critical juncture. - Publisher.
Subjects: History, Church and state, Christian saints, Biography, Church history, Primitive and early church, Saints chrétiens, Kerk en staat, Biographies, 11.51 early Christianity, Histoire, Église, Église et État, Church history, primitive and early church, ca. 30-600, Church and state, rome, Rome, history, empire, 30 b.c.-476 a.d., Saints, biography, Athanasius, saint, patriarch of alexandria, -373
Places: Rome, Egypt, Alexandria
People: Constantius II Emperor of Rome (317-361), Athanasius Saint, Patriarch of Alexandria (d. 373)
Time periods: Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600, Empire, 284-476
LC classification: BR1720.A7 B37 1993