Overview

Through a discussion of power dynamics with a critical eye towards the political situation of influential Christian leaders including Constantine, Damasus, Ambrose, and Augustine, Death's Dominion demonstrates the ways in which these individuals sought to craft Christian identity and cultural memory around the martyr shrine. Other recent scholarship on the martyr cult has conflated issues of the early fifth century with those from the early fourth, with little discussion of the development of the martyr cult during the intervening decades. Death's Dominion corrects that omission by presenting a diachronic focus on the development of the martyr cult in the pivotal fourth century. During this period the martyr cult was repeatedly a decisive tool for the augmentation and solidification of civil and religious authority.Late in the fourth century pilgrimage created a network within Christianity which ultimately led to a catholic Christian understanding of the martyrs' graves by broadening the appeal of regional practices to disparate audiences. This simultaneously reinforced and subverted the desired message of those who sought to craft the meaning associated with the martyrs' remains.Pilgrims helped manufacture a homogenized understanding of the martyr cult ultimately enabling it to become one of the most identifiable features of Christianity in subsequent centuries.

Full Product Details

Author:   Nathaniel Morehouse
Publisher:   Equinox Publishing Ltd
Imprint:   Equinox Publishing Ltd
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 1.50cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.549kg
ISBN:  

9781781790823

ISBN 10:   1781790825
Pages:   212
Publication Date:   01 October 2015
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

IntroductionChapter One: To Begin Romans and the Afterlife: An afterlife of Memory Monuments Monuments to the Important Dead Who Cares for the Dead? The Family Voluntary Associations Christian Differentiation, Isolation, Self-expression The Origins of Christian Burial Christianity as a Voluntary Association The Burial of the Important Christian Dead Burial of the Poor Koimeterion Debate Chapter Two: To Build Up DamasusConstantineChapter Three: To Control Ambrose of Milan Augustine of Hippo Paulinus of Nola Sulpicius Severus Apa Shenoute Chapter Four: To Reject Julian The Apostate Other Non-Christian Opponents Christian Opposition to the Martyr Cult Athanasius of Alexandria Vigilantius Chapter Five: To Accept Pilgrimage as Unifier Early Pilgrim Narratives, the Bordeaux Pilgrim and Paula Egeria Healing Pilgrimage Prudentius Conclusion

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Author Information

Nathaniel J. Morehouse received his MA in Religious Studies from New York University and his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Manitoba. He currently lives in Northeast Ohio where he teaches courses in Religious Studies and Philosophy at John Carroll University.

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