Episcopal Elections 250-600: Hierarchy and Popular Will in Late Antiquity

by Peter Norton

Overview

Peter Norton covers a topic of great relevance to students of early Church history and late antiquity alike. He challenges the conventional view that after the adoption of Christianity by the Roman empire the local community lost its voice in the appointment of bishops, and argues that this right remained in theory and practice for longer than is normally assumed. Given that bishops became important to the running of the empire at the local level, a proper understanding of how they came into office is essential for our understanding of the later empire.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199207473
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/19/2007
Series:	Oxford Classical Monographs
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	8.66(w) x 5.78(h) x 0.89(d)

About the Author

Peter Norton teaches at the Dragon School, Oxford.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction2. Legislation and theory3. The electorate: local communities and public disorder4. Imperial intervention5. Provinces and patriarchs: organizational structures6. The metropolitan system in the West7. The eastern metropolitans8. Corruption, constraint, and nepotism9. Three disputed elections10. Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

""[R]eaders, who come to this study to learn more about the sometimes bumpy roads leading to the episcopacy, will find their horizons broadened."
—Church History

From the Publisher