Early Christianity has always seemed bafflingly complex to me. Arians, Pelagians, monophysites, Nestorians, donatists, etc. I wasn't even sure how to capitalise them, let alone evaluate claims that were simultaneously pedantic and existentially terrifying! The general theme of this book is that the historical Jesus, even for the gospel writers, was something of a mystery. … Continue reading A New History of Early Christianity – Review

Not about history! A detour into running with the life of Emil Zátopek... Today We Die a Little: Emil Zátopek, Olympic Legend to Cold War Hero Richard Askwith This is a good book - throughly researched, well written, and evocative. The descriptions of Zatopek's races and retelling of anecdotes about him are moving, sometimes surprisingly … Continue reading Today We Die a Little – review.

There is a change in the nature of ascetism. Plotinus epitomises a classical ascetism. He lives as one ashamed to have been born into a human body and is admired for achieving a godlike mastery of mind over body. He is at the very peak of a tradition grounded in a training in classical literature … Continue reading The World of Late Antiquity – 8 – The New People: Monasticism and the expansion of Christianity, 300-400

The two achievements of this book are that it makes the relic-world display a kind of sense and it begins to explain why it came into being. This is not a world that is logical in any modern way, and ample material is presented that is almost surreal in its absurdity. The three bodies of … Continue reading Holy Bones, Holy Dust – How Relics Shaped the History of Medieval Europe

The theme of this chapter is the rise of Christianity – not just in terms of numbers or becoming 'legal', but of becoming an institutional power and how this happened. The opening up of Christianity is fundamental – from being a highly selective private members' club it becomes an institution open to all. In 168 … Continue reading The World of Late Antiquity – 7 – The Conversion of Constantine: 300-363

This chapter mainly deals with pagan (Hellenic, in the East) belief and philosophy and its influence on Christian writers. Ultimately, the battle for the public faith of the empire was lost to Christianity, but Hellenism did not suddenly disappear. Its dialogue with a new upper class intelligentsia of Christians had a deep influence on the … Continue reading The World of Late Antiquity – 6 – The Last Hellenes: Philosophy and Paganism, c.260-360

The Crisis of the Towns: The Rise of Christianity, c. 200-300 The peace of the early third century led to the development of two very different worlds. One the one hand, to "articulate Roman and Greek gentlemen, the peace of the empire had come as an opportunity to fortify and cherish the customs of one's … Continue reading The World of Late Antiquity – 5 – The Crisis of the Towns: The Rise of Christianity, c. 200-300

This period starts to see a fundamental shift in how men see themselves. Religious changes both reflect and cause this. For much of this period the "robust edifice of classical life" still dwarfs the new mood - the "humble men in […] little conventicles" are obscure and in the Greek world there is even a … Continue reading The World of Late Antiquity – 4 – The New Mood: Directions of Religious Thought, c. 170 – 300

An age of restoration – a "rich and resilient society […] had reached a balance and attained a structure significantly different from the classical period" and we must realise that "headlong religious and cultural changes […] did not take place under the shadow of a catastrophe". There is a new localism; by the fourth century … Continue reading The World of Late Antiquity – 3 – A World Restored: Roman Society in the Fourth Century