Overview

The early Christian Church faced a crisis during the 4th century as many of its follower eagerly shunned all wordly comforts and embraced asceticism as a means to achieve divine grace. How could the Church accept and admire these ascetics and at the same time sustain congregations of families whose well-being, propagation and generosity assured the future of the Church? Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, is given credit in this work for successfully establishing a set of practices and influencing a number of communities - the extraordinary monasteries of Christian Egypt - that reconciled this world and the next.

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9780801860553

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Reviews

A splendid contribution to the continuing debates about the relation of theology to politics in the controversies of the fourth Christian history. * Theology * Advances our understanding of Athanasius and of Christian asceticism. Brakke brings a social historian's sophistication and a linguist's ability... providing a clear thesis with which to reckon. -- Joseph W. Trigg * Church History * There is much to commend in this fine book... Brakke does not succumb to the reductionist tendencies of Athanasian studies: he presents a theologically articulate, often misunderstood, ascetically oriented, ecclesiastically dedicated, visionary, and well-educated theologian whose agenda was to create a church in which all could have easy access and full status. Brakke has presented us with a portrayal of Athanasius that can be believed and trusted. -- Richard Valantasis * Journal of Religion * A fine book... Brakke argues convincingly that Athanasius sought both to regulate the role of virgins (and women in general) in the life of the Church by removing them from public activities and to persuade the men who lived as monks... to become more actively involved in their local churches. * Journal of Ecclesiastical History *

<p> There is much to commend in this fine book... Brakke does not succumb to the reductionist tendencies of Athanasian studies: he presents a theologically articulate, often misunderstood, ascetically oriented, ecclesiastically dedicated, visionary, and well-educated theologian whose agenda was to create a church in which all could have easy access and full status. Brakke has presented us with a portrayal of Athanasius that can be believed and trusted. -- Richard Valantasis, Journal of Religion

Author Information

David Brakke is an associate professor of religious studies at Indiana University.

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