The End of Ancient Christianity (Canto original series)

By R.A. Markus

Book Overview

This study is concerned with one, central historical problem: the nature of the changes that transformed the intellectual and spiritual horizons of the Christian world from its establishment in the fourth century to the end of the sixth. Why, for example, were the assumptions, attitudes and traditions of Gregory the Great so markedly different from those of Augustine? The End of Ancient Christianity examines how Christians, who had formerly constituted a threatened and beleaguered minority, came to define their identity in a changed context of religious respectability in which their faith had become a source of privilege, prestige and power. Professor Markus reassesses the cult of the martyrs and the creation of schemes of sacred time and sacred space, and analyzes the appeal of asceticism and its impact on the Church at large. These changes form part of a fundamental transition, perhaps best described as the shift from Ancient toward Medieval forms of Christianity; from an older and more diverse secular culture towards a religious culture with a firm Biblical basis.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521339499
• ISBN13: 9780521339490
• Release Date: February 1991
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

penetrating discernment of layers in Christian tradition

Markus traces the historic shifts which marked a transformation of the Christian movement, from the popular primitive church of the first centuries, into a great bulwark of the medieval social order. He shows how the Christian community slowly divided into three orders -- of lay people, the all-male clergy, and the celibate monastics. And then the question emerged as to which order ranked highest. At first, the lay people were most important, since they chose and supported all church leaders from among themselves. Later, professional clergymen established themselves as state-backed supervisors over the laity. But by early medieval times it was the celibate monks who emerged as the Christians of highest rank. With their isolation from the world and from sex, the monastics seemed holier than either the local clergy (who were still mainly married), or lay families. In both the West and East, bishops, patriarchs, and popes were increasingly drawn from the ranks of male monks. It was a momentous trend. Markus claims, "The ascetic take-over [roughly in the time of Pope Gregory the Great (590-604)] signals the end of ancient Christianity". (p. 17) I think Markus does the church a service, helping us distinguish layers of Christian tradition as they were added, and to see how these differed from the original Jesus movement.

A very good book...

Markus' treatment of the culture of early Christianity is fascinating. More than any other scholar I have read, he is adept at showing the broader significance of various parts of Early Christianity.