The End of Ancient Christianity [Paperback]

R. A. Markus (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521339499 | ISBN-13: 978-0521339490 | Publication Date: February 22, 1991 | Edition: First Edition, Reprint

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As usual, Markus is illuminating on many issues." The Journal of Religion

"...a magisterial analysis of Western Christian intellectual, spiritual, and social history." Religious Studies Review

"The End of Ancient Christianity offers within 250 elegantly written pages, with documentation to satisfy the specialist and a lucidity to entrance the general reader, a survey of the transformation of Christianity and the Christian world in the Latin west between Augustine and Gregory the Great. The center of attention is not high politics but the common life of the Church and people. The astonishing rise of monasticism rightly attracts his attention as the forcing ground on which the issues of these decades were confronted. The powerful figures of Augustine and Gregory loom large over these pages, but Markus's vision is not distracted or distorted by them; there is no better book to bring this period to life." The Catholic History Review

"...this is a work of great learning and sophistication, based on a fresh reading of a wide array of sources, and at the same time it is sensitive to theological questions." Robert L. Wilken, First Things

Book Description

A study of the changes that transformed the intellectual and spiritual horizons of the ancient Christian world reveals how a threatened and beleaguered minority came to redefine its identity with religious respectability, prestige and power.

Product Details

• Paperback: 258 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; First Edition, Reprint edition (February 22, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521339499
• ISBN-13: 978-0521339490
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,566 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars penetrating discernment of layers in Christian tradition, February 15, 2008

By 

Brian Griffith (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The End of Ancient Christianity (Canto original series) (Paperback)

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.

-author of Correcting Jesus

12 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good book..., February 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The End of Ancient Christianity (Paperback)

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.