Ascetics, Authority, and the Church in the Age of Jerome and Cassian 2nd Edition

In his Ascetics, Authority, and the Church in the Age of Jerome and Cassian , first published in 1978, Philip Rousseau presents a survey of asceticism in the western church until about 400, including a selective study of Jerome, and then, moving into the fifth century, a reading of Sulpicius and Cassian. Rousseau explores such societal changes as the eventual triumph of the coenobitic movement and its growing effect within the church, not least on the episcopate. He focuses primarily on the development among ascetics of a certain concept of spiritual authority; on the attraction of that concept for a wider audience; and on its enduring formulation within a literary tradition of great influence. For this second edition, Rousseau has supplied a new introduction, with extensive bibliographical references, that charts the ways in which scholarship on early Christian asceticism has developed since his compelling and influential original argument. For this second edition, Rousseau has supplied a new introduction with extensive bibliographical references in which he charts the ways in which scholarship on early Christian asceticism has developed since his compelling and influential original argument. "In his Ascetics, Authority, and the Church in the Age of Jerome and Cassian, first published in 1978, Philip Rousseau presents a survey of asceticism in the western church until about 400, including a selective study of Jerome, and then, moving into the fifth century, a reading of Sulpicius and Cassian. Rousseau explores such societal changes as the eventual triumph of the coenobitic movement and its growing effect within the church, not least on the episcopate. He focuses primarily on the development among ascetics of a certain concept of spiritual authority; on the attraction of that concept for a wider audience; and on its enduring formulation within a literary tradition of great influence." "For this second edition, Rousseau has supplied a new introduction, with extensive bibliographical references, that charts the ways in which scholarship on early Christian asceticism has developed since his compelling and influential original argument." ""A scholarly, well-documented and extremely interesting work ... [A] most valuable contribution towards understanding the ascetic movement in late antiquity."--Journal of Theological Studies" ""Rousseau captures an essential turning point in the history of western spirituality and shows how the influence of eastern ideas made the crucial difference."---Classical World" ""Ascetics, Authority, and the Church is preeminently a book about literature in its historical setting; a skillful demonstration of how the creation of a written tradition ... was central to the process of bridging the gap between the charismatic power of the holy man and the settled monastic community, of preserving the essential tradition of spiritual authority through changing patterns of ascetic life."---Journal of Roman Studies"--Jacket Introduction to the Second Edition lX Abbreviations XXXVIl Introduction 1 PART ONE: THE DESERT I. Discovering the Desert Fathers 1. Contemporary Judgements 9 2. The Evidence Today 11 II. Masters and Disciples 1. The Dialogue 19 2. The Basis of Authority 21 III. The Growth of Ascetic Society 1. From Hermit to Coenobite 33 2. Power within the Community 49 IV. Ascetics in the Church 56 V. The Written Word 68 PART TWO: WESTERN BEGINNINGS I. Exiles and Pilgrims 79 II. Ascetic Literature 92 PART THREE: JEROME I. Antioch, Constantinople, and Rome 99 II. Letters from Bethlehem 114 III. Jerome on the Priesthood and Episcopate 125 IV. Jerome's Lives 133 PART FOUR: MARTIN OF TOURS I. A Bishop and his Biographer 1. Sulpicius the Disciple 2. Martin the Master II. An Apostle in Gaul III. Martin's Audience PART FIVE: CAS SIAN I. An Exile in Reverse II. Hermits or Coenobites? III. Adapting Egypt to the West IV. Authority 1. The Decline of the Charismatic Master 2. Discipleship within the Community V. Monks and the World 1. The Monastic Elite 2. Wealth and Patronage, 3. A Pastoral Role VI. Cassian the Writer 143 148 152 161 169 177 183 189 194 199 205 212 1. Books 221 2. The Church as a Monastery: Cassian's De Incarnatione 227 3. The Thirteenth Conference: Portrait of an Abbot 231 Epilogue: the Next Generation 235 APPENDICES I. Greek, Coptic, and Latin Lives of Pachomius 243 II. Greek and Latin Versions of the Historia Monachorum and the Life of Antony 248 III. The Monastic Teaching of Evagrius of Pontus 251 IV. Cassian's Dependence on Oral Tradition: Some Examples 254 Bibliography 257 Index 273

In his Ascetics, Authority, and the Church in the Age of Jerome and Cassian, first published in 1978, Philip Rousseau presents a survey of asceticism in the western church until about 400, including a selective study of Jerome, and then, moving into the fifth century, a reading of Sulpicius and Cassian. Rousseau explores such societal changes as the eventual triumph of the coenobitic movement and its growing effect within the church, not least on the episcopate. He focuses primarily on the development among ascetics of a certain concept of spiritual authority; on the attraction of that concept for a wider audience; and on its enduring formulation within a literary tradition of great influence.

For this second edition, Rousseau has supplied a new introduction, with extensive bibliographical references, that charts the ways in which scholarship on early Christian asceticism has developed since his compelling and influential original argument.