Communities of the blessed : the origins and development of regional churches in Northern Italy, c.250 - 381 C.E.
Abstract
This thesis argues that the origins and evolution of Christian communities in
Northern Italy between c. 250 and 381 are comprehensible only within the region's
social environment. Whereas previous studies of early Christianity in Italy have
sought to explain its origins in terms of modern diocesan structures, this thesis
shows that the evidence for this view is untrustworthy and that a new methodology
is needed to explain the rise of the church. To this end, the thesis describes the
'north Italian human environment', which consists not just of the physical
landscape, but of the social networks within it. This environment allows an
understanding of why Christian communities had developed in some places and not
in others by c. 300.
The development of the church continued to be influenced by this human
environment in the fourth century. Christian diffusion remained a partial and
variable phenomenon. In the cities Christians found themselves confronted by the
adherents of other religions, notably Judaism. Thus, in the fourth century,
Christians did not yet dominate the communities in which they lived. Moreover,
the active participation in ecclesiastical affairs of emperors after Constantine - particularly
the intervention of Constantius II in Italy during the 350s - added a new
dimension to the human environment. Such interventions defined how north Italian
Christianity came into contact with ecclesiastical and theological affairs throughout
the empire. In sum, the history of early Christianity in northern Italy is
circumscribed by the social environment within which it developed. This thesis
argues that for northern Italy - indeed for the rest of the Mediterranean - a proper
understanding of Christian growth can only come from an appreciation of the
particular social context of the region within which it occurred.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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