Theology
Jonathan Stutz
Stasis
Crowd Violence and Religious-Political Discourses in Late Antiquity
[Stasis. Massengewalt und religiös-politische Diskurse in der Spätantike.]
2024. Approx. 260 pages.
forthcoming in May
forthcoming in May
Studien und Texte zu Antike und Christentum / Studies and Texts in Antiquity and Christianity 137
approx. 90,00 €
including VAT
including VAT
sewn paper
ISBN 978-3-16-162637-1
forthcoming
Also Available As:
Published in English.
Building on the premise that episodes of violence also manifest through texts and narratives that originated within specific communicative settings, Jonathan Stutz explores the manifold interconnections between (religious) violence and late antique rhetoric. By focusing the fourth century in particular, he addresses a period of time that was marked by profound political transformations and religious conflicts. The author delves into various examples where manifestations of collective violence became the object of strategies of legitimation and de-legitimation, as well as of moral and theological discourses. Throughout the different chapters, he examines how orations, homilies, letters, and polemical treatises provided a platform for emperors, rhetors, and Christian church leaders in their aim to define their own role and that of their interlocutors within the conflicts they witnessed.Survey of contents
1. How to Write about Riots2. The Dangerous Mob
Introduction – A City of Riots – Rhetorizing the City – Disruptive Teachings – Christianity and the Limits of Concord – Beyond Alexandria – Conclusion
3. Looting Churches
Introduction – How to Define Sacrilege – Witnessing Violence – If these Walls could Speak – Conclusion
4. Contested Dissent
Introduction – Julian and the Misopogon – Anger Control – Uncomfortable Truths – Conclusion
5. A City in Lockdown
Introduction – A Madness beyond Control: The Riot – The Making of a Responsive City – Engaging Emotions – Preaching Forgiving – Conclusion
6. Concord and Communion
Introduction – The Modelling of an Ethos of Concord – Communion in Divisive Times – Conclusion
7. With All Friendship
Introduction – The Salvation of the Emperor – Exemplary Models – Violent Envy – Excursus: Salus and disciplina in Rome – Restoring the Future – Conclusion
8. The Beginning of the End
Introduction – Rufinus's Account – The Downfall of Serapis – Theodosius's Law – Concluison
9. Conclusion