Christianity, Philosophy, and Roman Power
Constantine, Julian, and the Bishops on Exegesis and Empire

Rethinks Rome's Christianisation as a crisis of knowledge propelled by Constantine, with Emperor Julian as its key interpreter and catalyst.

Lea Niccolai (Author)

9781009299299, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 1 June 2023

348 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2.5 cm, 0.69 kg

This book rethinks the Christianisation of the late Roman empire as a crisis of knowledge, pointing to competitive cultural re-assessment as a major driving force in the making of the Constantinian and post-Constantinian state. Emperor Julian's writings are re-assessed as key to accessing the rise and consolidation of a Christian politics of interpretation that relied on exegesis as a self-legitimising device to secure control over Roman history via claims to Christianity's control of paideia. This reconstruction infuses Julian's reaction with contextual significance. His literary and political project emerges as a response to contemporary reconfigurations of Christian hermeneutics as controlling the meaning of Rome's culture and history. At the same time, understanding Julian as a participant in a larger debate re-qualifies all fourth-century political and episcopal discourse as a long knock-on effect reacting to the imperial mobilisation of Christian debates over the link between power and culture.

Introduction
Part I. At Constantius' Court: Julian Caeser: 1. How philosophers should take compliments when they happen to become kings
2. Climbing the ladder
Part II. Making and Breaking Constantine: Julian Augustus
3. Holy hermeneutics
4. A life for a life
Part III. After Julian: Philosophy in the World: 5. Those who know if the emperor knows
6. Wisdom for the many, and wisdom for the few
Conclusions.

Subject Areas: Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]