The term "eye of a needle" is used as a metaphor for a very narrow opening. It occurs several times throughout the Talmud. The New Testament quotes Jesus as saying that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God".
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- Camel through the eye of a needle - Idioms by The Free Dictionary
There was conflict between the old believers, new believers, old wealth, and new wealth.
Between around and there was an explosion of writing on the subject of wealth, associated with writers and preachers such as Ambrose , Jerome , Augustine , Paulinus of Nola , and the supporters of Pelagius. There was good reason for this explosion. In the Christian church of the time, distinctive traditions of giving and attitudes toward wealth reached back to before the age of Constantine.
They were often associated with low-profile styles of leadership that drew their support from distinctly average congregations. These low-profile styles of giving and leadership frequently clashed with the expectations of those brought into the churches by the wealthy. Ironically, once the churches became used to being affluent by the end of fourth and early fifth century they needed to learn how to live in an impoverished world once the Roman Empire collapsed in the fifth century.
Radical critiques of wealth were then abandoned and instead emphasis was placed on how wealth could be used to consolidate the Christian community.
Eye of a needle
The greatest surprise of all occurred in the late fifth century. The leaders of the churches realized that they--and not the great lay landowners whose fortunes had previously dwarfed the wealth of the church--were, at last, truly wealthy. The collapse of the traditional aristocracies left the church in a unique position. The main point of this book was not to discuss the cause of the fall of the Roman Empire.
However, I was interested to see how this author addressed the subject. He says it was caused by civil war among Roman generals fighting each other in an effort to make themselves Caesar. These wars raged for a generation throughout Britain, Gaul, Spain, and Africa. The various competing Roman generals actually invited barbarian armies to fight for their side. The barbarians were paid by allowing them to plunder the invaded areas.
In the end the barbarians found themselves in control of large areas that were then independent of any loyalty or taxes to Rome. With depleted revenue from taxes the central Roman government was no longer able to maintain an army to retake control of the lost provinces. From this description I have concluded that the fall of the Roman Empire was not caused by the rise of the Christianity at the cost of the traditional ways of the Pagans as was suggested in Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Readable, insightful, thoroughly at home with his subject and truly interesting.
I loved reading this and was sorry to finish it. Jan 09, Margaret Sankey rated it it was amazing. This is the kind of book for which the word magisterial was intended. I've been reading Brown's work on the late Roman Empire since undergraduate classes, and this is the culmination of immersion in the big ones--Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose as well as the many congregants, faction leaders, bishops, donors and well-educated widows of the imploding Roman world.
This book traces the fascinating process by which a church founded on humble poverty came to be an Imperial religion and then a replacement This is the kind of book for which the word magisterial was intended. This book traces the fascinating process by which a church founded on humble poverty came to be an Imperial religion and then a replacement authority over the course of three hundred years in the west. Pre-Christian status through civic service and donations to public games and temples guaranteed fame and Roman honor, which the new Christian ideas of donation to the poor and treasure in the next world significantly questioned.
Gradually, as Roman law adjusted so that revocation of wealth took into account relatives, clients and standing obligations, becoming a monk or nun opened up new social and political leverage, especially for women and middling provincial nobles. Eventually, as the empire itself ebbed and the church accumulated property, bishops took on the administrative and authoritative mantle of Roman officials in the west, completing a process of cross-over unimaginable in the early centuries of the faith. Nov 12, Ethan rated it it was amazing Shelves: An excellent, magisterial investigation into the history of Latin Western Christianity from through a focus on material wealth, its handling, and its influence.
The author demonstrates well how this time period is crucial to explain the shifts that take place between "ancient" and "medieval" Christianity. He uses modern research, recently discovered texts, and archaeological evidence to question the prevailing narratives about the rise of prominence of Christianity in the Latin West and p An excellent, magisterial investigation into the history of Latin Western Christianity from through a focus on material wealth, its handling, and its influence. He uses modern research, recently discovered texts, and archaeological evidence to question the prevailing narratives about the rise of prominence of Christianity in the Latin West and presents a more complex, nuanced, and ultimately more contextual and feasible explanation of that rise.
The author analyzes both pagan and Christian views of wealth in late Roman antiquity, describes the major historical events immediately before the mid-fourth century, and then begins his analysis of the role of wealth as it impacted many of the disputations and personalities of Western Christendom from , including Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Pelagius, Paulinus of Nola, Salvian, and Gregory of Tours. The author convincingly demonstrates the process by which wealth eventually moved toward the church as the Roman empire disintegrated and how changes in the place of wealth and conceptions of giving in terms of penance and to the poor were major forces in the shift from "ancient" to "medieval" Christianity.
The character studies of Ambrose and Augustine as well as the rest of the major characters are of excellent quality and quite instructive, firmly contextualizing the men not only as theologians but as full-fledged members of the late Roman world. This work is useful since it shows the social, political, and cultural dimensions of the major theological disputes regarding Augustinianism vs. Donatists, and even the late phase of the Arians vs. Apr 18, Adam Shields rated it really liked it. Long, but interesting look at the variety of ways that the church of the Late Roman Empire looked at wealth and how it should be used.
Interesting to reflect in the different ways we currently think about wealth. My knowledge of the history of this period is pretty weak. But Brown does take some alternative views from others that I have read. His understanding of Augustine especially around celibacy and Agustine's desire to turn all clerics into monks is different from what I rea Short Review: His understanding of Augustine especially around celibacy and Agustine's desire to turn all clerics into monks is different from what I read in Augustine: This did not make a huge difference to the main point of the book, but it always does make me pause to realize that I just have to that the author's word on so many things that I can't independently verify.
That being said, I think his take on Augustine makes more sense than in the Very Short Introduction and Stark was really taking a pretty broad view and Brown is more of a narrow look. Click Through for the full review on my blog at http: This is the kind of massive, authoritative tome that could only be produced after decades of intensive study.
He tracks how the collapse of centralised state authority, accompanied by a gradual fading of the idea of the populus Romanus as a living entity, allowed the Church to evolve into an institution built on corporate wealth. Wealth was given a higher purpose—not used simply to This is the kind of massive, authoritative tome that could only be produced after decades of intensive study. Wealth was given a higher purpose—not used simply to pay for bread and circuses, for entertainment in gilded buildings, it was now used to construct churches and monasteries full of light.
At several hundred pages, this will not be the book for anyone without a pre-existing interest in the history of wealth, patronage, or the development of the early Christian Church. While Brown writes fluidly and lucidly as always, this is densely written and very detailed, perhaps at times overly so. Still, this is a wonderful attempt at a recreation of a mindset at once very familiar and very alien, and I found it well worth the investment of time.
Sep 23, Melora rated it really liked it Shelves: I didn't know much about the topic, but the author provided very adequate background regarding attitudes towards wealth in the late Roman Empire. The changes in Christian thought on wealth were well explained. The various people profiled were described in a very engaging way which illustrated the changing views on wealth over hundreds of years. My only complaint was that, as a non-expert, I was unfamiliar with the scholars the author frequently quoted, and also that the lev This was fascinating.
My only complaint was that, as a non-expert, I was unfamiliar with the scholars the author frequently quoted, and also that the level of detail was a little excessive. Overall, though, this was very interesting, and I learned a lot! Mar 15, Gary rated it really liked it. This is a smart book with a narrative tying a complex story together coherently. How we understand history and interpret it is always changing. A great historian such as Peter Brown knows this and has a way of telling the story such that he will almost certainly destroy the false beliefs you had about this incredibly interesting period of time, the Roman Empire from AD and provide a new narrative to understand that world after all, who among us doesn't love Roman History from this time period?
I know I do, and I know this book stripped away many of my false beliefs about the period that I used to have but no longer do because of this book. The author realizes how we thought about our world determines how we presently think about our world and also will frame how we see the world in the future as well as our now. The particular can determine the general and the specific or in the terms the author is speaking about, the Roman citizen will love his city and the citizen will be part of the Empire.
Augustine of Hippo is at the center of this story. Paul and makes a religion. Augustine and his later allies will say differently. This book will delve into those kinds of things and more. It will take St. Aquinas years later to reverse the Augustinian trajectory and then Martin Luther and Calvin to reverse course again by valuing faith over works and letting us all know that we are born in sin because of Adam's pride and defiance.
The writer is not always a fluent writer, but he has a narrative that really works and it would be a rare person who could read this book and not learn something new and worth knowing about and more importantly unlearn something they thought they knew but were wrong about. Jul 08, Carol rated it it was amazing. Sometimes it is best to contemplate current difficulties from the perspective of the past.
Better than any I've read, this book unravels the tangled threads of spirituality and money, showing us, from the vantage of late Rome, that in times of cultural collapse, people put their faith in wealth and the illusions of control it affords. For those of you who have not read Brown, he is perhaps the finest historian of late Rome and the rise of Christianity.
He recreates for us the lives and perplexiti Sometimes it is best to contemplate current difficulties from the perspective of the past. He recreates for us the lives and perplexities of real people living their daily lives in the ancient world. It's thick and scholarly, but I cannot recommend him highly enough. Sep 03, Mason rated it really liked it.
This is an exquisitely dense study of the shift in the Mediterranean world of the Roman empire to the early hegemony of the Roman Catholic Church. Before reading it I had some vague knowledge that Romans partied themselves to death and then Constantine decided he was a Christian and everyone lived happily ever after or at least saved. The story of this book is much more rich. Not only does Brown show a wide range of personalities and philosophies at their steady work, he quietly reminds us th This is an exquisitely dense study of the shift in the Mediterranean world of the Roman empire to the early hegemony of the Roman Catholic Church.
Not only does Brown show a wide range of personalities and philosophies at their steady work, he quietly reminds us that a little revolution here and there can make for a whole lot of change everywhere. Un camino que viene narrado maravillosamente por el autor a lo largo de varios siglos. Jul 03, Chad rated it really liked it Shelves: A fascinating look at the last centuries of the Roman empire through the perspective of wealth.
While the power and influence of the Roman empire waned, the relative influence of the Church grew. Associated with it was also wealth. Both power and money changed the way the church operated. The book examines these topics through a fascinating cast of characters-- names familiar to me, but ones that I have never ecountered up close.
camel through the eye of a needle
You get to know Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, using his critique of A fascinating look at the last centuries of the Roman empire through the perspective of wealth. You get to know Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, using his critique of the poor as a power play with the imperial government. You get to learn how a young Augustine, supported by a local patron, tried to climb the imperial ranks, associated with an extreme sect the Manichees, and eventually settled down to form a monastary in Roman Africa.
You hear of his clash with Pelagius about free will, but also how the role of wealth factored in. The Pelagians denounced wealth, and thought that it should be renounced. Augustine was more moderate, and thought you could be rich and put your money to good use. You learn how Paulinus of Nola used his wealth primarily to build up a shrine to his favorite saint, Felix, creating a distinct sink of wealth separate from caring from the poor.
You learn how Christian bishops were concerned of the competition associated from the Roman games for money from wealthy donors. I feel much more comfortable with figures in early Christianity after reading this book, as well as some of the historical complexities associated with them. It also gave insights into modern-day problems associated with churches, the secular, and wealth.
eye of the needle
These problems aren't new. When they entered a Christian basilica, the rich were exposed to the gaze of a crowd of hundreds drawn from all classes, many of whom might have good reason to resent them. He also had it in his power either to shame or to shield the rich. Nor were they intended in themselves to bring about a program of social reform. What they did do was open up for Ambrose and for similar Christian bishops a space for intervention in society. The sermons were no more than the preliminary bombardment that preceded the action of the bishop as an intercessor with the great.
It had not come about because of a heightened sense of concern for the oppressed but had been fostered by the imperial government for brutally practical reasons. Perched at the top of an immense and slow-moving bureaucracy, the emperor and his court went out of their way to encourage appeals and denunciations from below. Drawing on the writings of major Christian thinkers such as Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome, Brown examines the controversies and changing attitudes toward money caused by the influx of new wealth into church coffers, and describes the spectacular acts of divestment by rich donors and their growing influence in an empire beset with crisis.
He shows how the use of wealth for the care of the poor competed with older forms of philanthropy deeply rooted in the Roman world, and sheds light on the ordinary people who gave away their money in hopes of treasure in heaven. Through the Eye of a Needle challenges the widely held notion that Christianity's growing wealth sapped Rome of its ability to resist the barbarian invasions, and offers a fresh perspective on the social history of the church in late antiquity.
Sponsored Products are advertisements for products sold by merchants on Amazon. When you click on a Sponsored Product ad, you will be taken to an Amazon detail page where you can learn more about the product and purchase it. To learn more about Amazon Sponsored Products, click here. Every page is full of information and argument, and savoring one's way through the book is an education.
It is a privilege to live in an age that could produce such a masterpiece of the historical literature. Peter Brown's long-awaited book surpasses even the high expectations set by his previous writings, and will engage general readers and specialists alike.
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Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation. His report is a masterpiece that introduces us to the wealth and poverty of an empire as it implodes, and the inspiring Christian concept of treasure in heaven. Excavating the roots of medieval charity, he illuminates the problems of rich and poor today, and delivers a triumph of history at its finest. The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire. In this important book, he brings to this vital subject his characteristic wit, wisdom, and humanity, as well as the mature reflection of a great historian. It is a magnificent achievement.
His story of the transfer of great wealth from rich individuals and families to the coffers of the church is the story of the creation of the postimperial West and the European Middle Ages. This is a big, and big-hearted, beautiful book. The Early History of an Idea. It has his trademark stamped all over it, in the richness of its source material, its breadth of coverage and turn of phrase, its fondness for the middling folk and outsiders who usually fall by the wayside of academic scholarship, and its insistence on seeing pagans and Christians as part of a larger, shared world.
Drake, author of Constantine and the Bishops. Through the Eye of a Needle is a remarkable work of scholarship--interesting, informative, original, and stimulating. I recommend it warmly and confidently. Noble, author of Images, Iconoclasm, and the Carolingians. Would you like to tell us about a lower price? If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support? Learn more about Amazon Prime. Read more Read less. Prime Book Box for Kids. Add all three to Cart Add all three to List.
Buy the selected items together This item: Through the Eye of a Needle: Ships from and sold by Amazon. The World of Late Antiquity: The Fall of Rome: Customers who bought this item also bought. Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1. AD Library of World Civilization. The Ransom of the Soul: Afterlife and Wealth in Early Western Christianity. And the End of Civilization. The Cult of the Saints: The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity, A.
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Camel through the eye of a needle - Idioms by The Free Dictionary
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