Sons of hellenism, fathers of the church

University of California Press

2012

553 p.

Transformation of the classical heritage ; 49

Includes bibliographical references and index

9780520951655

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Abbreviations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Nazianzus and the Eastern Empire, 330-361 -- 2. Julian, from Caesar to Augustus: Paris to Constantinople, 355-362 -- 3. Philosopher, Leader, Priest: Julian in Constantinople, Spring 362 -- 4. On the True Philosophical Life and Ideal Christian Leadership: Gregory's Inaugural Address, Oration 2 -- 5. The Most Potent Pharmakon: Gregory the Elder and Nazianzus -- 6. Armed like a Hoplite-Gregory the Political Philosopher atWar: Eunomius, Photinus, and Julian -- 7. A Health-Giving Star Shining on the East: Julian in Antioch, July 362 to March 363 -- 8. The Making of the Apostate: Gregory's Oration 4 against Julian -- 9. A Bloodless Sacrifice of Words to the Word: Logoi for the Logos -- 10. Gregory's Second Strike, Oration 5 -- Conclusion: Visions of Rome -- Bibliography -- Index

This groundbreaking study brings into dialogue for the first time the writings of Julian, the last non-Christian Roman Emperor, and his most outspoken critic, Bishop Gregory of Nazianzus, a central figure of Christianity. Susanna Elm compares these two men not to draw out the obvious contrast between the Church and the Emperor's neo-Paganism, but rather to find their common intellectual and social grounding. Her insightful analysis, supplemented by her magisterial command of sources, demonstrates the ways in which both men were part of the same dialectical whole. Elm recasts both Julian and Gregory as men entirely of their times, showing how the Roman Empire in fact provided Christianity with the ideological and social matrix without which its longevity and dynamism would have been inconceivable

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