Serving the Christian State in Late Antiquity

How did the state become Christian in late antiquity? Many scholars have traced the Christianization of the Roman world in the centuries following the conversion of the emperor Constantine in 312 CE. Robin Whelan, however, turns his attention away from the usual suspects in such accounts-emperors, empresses, bishops, ascetics, and other holy people-to consider a surprisingly understudied set of late ancient Christians: those who served the state as courtiers, bureaucrats, and governors. By tracing the requirements of regimes, the expectations of subjects, and patterns of engagement with churches and churchmen, he argues that that those who served the state in late antiquity could be seen-and indeed, could see themselves-as distinctly Christian authority figures-just as much as the emperors and kings whom they served, and the bishops and ascetics whom they governed. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

• Provides the first full-scale treatment of Christian expectations of imperial and royal officials in late antiquity
• Applies analytical approaches based on the most recent work on religious identity in late antiquity
• Systematically reconstructs depictions of imperial officials across various Christian literary genres and conventions of official churchgoing in the fifth and sixth centuries
• This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core