Overview

A free open access ebook is upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. Flight during times of persecution has a long and fraught history in early Christianity. In the third century, bishops who fled were considered cowards or, worse yet, heretics. On the face, flight meant denial of Christ and thus betrayal of faith and community. But by the fourth century, the terms of persecution changed as Christianity became the favored cult of the Roman Empire. Prominent Christians who fled and survived became founders and influencers of Christianity over time.    Bishops in Flight examines the various ways these episcopal leaders both appealed to and altered the discourse of Christian flight to defend their status as purveyors of Christian truth, even when their exiles appeared to condemn them. Their stories illuminate how profoundly Christian authors deployed theological discourse and the rhetoric of heresy to respond to the phenomenal political instability of the fourth and fifth centuries.

Full Product Details

Author:   Jennifer Barry
Publisher:   University of California Press
Imprint:   University of California Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.30cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780520300378

ISBN 10:   0520300378
Pages:   224
Publication Date:   23 April 2019
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

Table of Contents

Prologue Abbreviations Introduction The Discourse of Flight Explorations of Exile Episcopal Exile Models of Exile Heresiology and Exile Episcopal Exile and Displacement Outline of Book 1. Athanasius of Alexandria in Flight How to Construct a Model City: Alexandria If These Walls Could Talk: Defense Before Constantius A Wall-Less Desert: Defense of His Flight A Model City without Walls: Life of Antony Conclusion Contents 2. How to Return from Flight How to Rehabilitate a Failed Bishop: Gregory of Nazianzus How to Construct a Model City: Constantinople A Model Exile: In Praise of Basil the Great A Model Return: In Praise of Athanasius Conclusion 3. John Chrysostom in Flight A Man in Flight: John Chrysostom How to Construct a Model City: Antioch Bishops Who Die in Flight: Meletius of Antioch How Not to Flee: Theophilus of Alexandria Bishops Who Do Not Return Conclusion 4. To Rehabilitate and Return a Bishop in Flight How to Diagnose Exile: Ps.-Martyrius's Funerary Speech How to Interpret Exile: Palladius of Helenopolis's Dialogue on the Life of John Chrysostom How to Return from Exile: Athanasius and John Chrysostom Conclusion 5. To Condemn a Bishop in Flight How to Condemn a Model City: Nicomedia An Unorthodox Return from Flight: Eusebius of Nicomedia How to Rehabilitate a Bishop: Philostorgius of Cappadocia's Ecclesiastical History How to Condemn a Model Exile: Socrates of Constantinople's Ecclesiastical History How to Rehabilitate a Condemned City: Theodoret of Cyrrhus's Ecclesiastical History Conclusion Contents 6. Remembering Exile Remembering a Not-So-Model City: Antioch Martyrs and Bishops in Flight How to Remember Orthodox Flight: Sozomen of Constantinople's Ecclesiastical History Competing Memories: Socrates and Sozomen Conclusion Epilogue Bibliography Index

Reviews

"""An excellent contribution to our understanding of a period rife with theologico-political competition that resulted in numerous, complex situations of episcopal displacement."" * Reading Religion * ""This slim, elegant volume constitutes a noteworthy and welcome contribution to our understanding of exilic discourse and the construction of the figure of the bishop in the fourth and fifth centuries. A stimulating read."" * Plekos * ""Barry is an excellent guide on how to read late antique polemic texts.…this enjoyable book fully achieves its objective of showing why ‘Tertullian's critique…was eventually replaced by Athanasius' promotion of the bishop in flight’. It was through telling the right exile stories, at the right place, at the right time."" * Early Medieval Europe *"

This slim, elegant volume constitutes a noteworthy and welcome contribution to our understanding of exilic discourse and the construction of the figure of the bishop in the fourth and fifth centuries. A stimulating read. * Plekos * An excellent contribution to our understanding of a period rife with theologico-political competition that resulted in numerous, complex situations of episcopal displacement. * Reading Religion *

This slim, elegant volume constitutes a noteworthy and welcome contribution to our understanding of exilic discourse and the construction of the figure of the bishop in the fourth and fifth centuries. A stimulating read. * Plekos *

An excellent contribution to our understanding of a period rife with theologico-political competition that resulted in numerous, complex situations of episcopal displacement. * Reading Religion * This slim, elegant volume constitutes a noteworthy and welcome contribution to our understanding of exilic discourse and the construction of the figure of the bishop in the fourth and fifth centuries. A stimulating read. * Plekos *

Author Information

Jennifer Barry is Assistant Professor of Religion at University of Mary Washington.

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