With its official recognition by the Roman state, the Christian community suddenly enjoyed the sympathy of the highest authorities, wide public attention and a great afflux, and with imperial support architectural masterpieces were erected, the Lateran Basilica, St. Peter's and San Paolo fuori le mura, whose dimensions and magnificence bore every comparison with pagan sanctuaries. The great rise in martyr worship furthermore prompted the construction of numerous memorial churches outside the city gates, which at the same time served as burial grounds for believers. Rome was transformed from capital of the Empire to capital of Christianity boasting the tombs of the two prime apostles Peter and Paul and numerous other witnesses of Christ. Alongside these monuments of papal and imperial representation, several tituli, parish churches, were founded along the main thoroughfares inside the city to create visible landmarks of Christianity and satisfy the pastoral needs of an ever-growing community. Focusing on these formative centuries of Christianity, from the reign of Constantine until the emergence of the Medieval world order in the Carolingian age, Hugo Brandenburg offers a broad panoramic view of Christian church architecture in Rome from its conception to the establishment of canonical church types. Throughout, the author treats the archaeological remains as speaking testimonies, articulating the intentions, motivations and self-perception of Rome's early Christian community. This lucid and detailed exposition of more than 50 early churches of Rome from the fourth to the seventh century, which draws together archaeological, documentary and literary sources, will appeal to the layman and the specialist alike. It contains an up-to-date bibliography on each subject and gives ample space to the discussion of recent developments in the field, whereby Hugo Brandenburg offers his own well-founded interpretations of the evidence and shows his immense expertise of early Christian architecture. The present work is lavishly illustrated with original plans and drawings and exclusive photographs especially taken for this volume, which allow an unusually detailed visual insight into the sacred architecture of early Christian Rome.

A comprehensive survey of the doctrine and practice of baptism in the first five centuries of Christian history, arranged geographically within chronological periods.

of the Pope." --Book Jacket.

The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity is the first comprehensive reference book covering every aspect of history, culture, religion, and life in Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Near East (including the Persian Empire and Central Asia) between the mid-3rd and the mid-8th centuries AD, the era now generally known as Late Antiquity. This period saw the re-establishment of the Roman Empire, its conversion to Christianity and its replacement in the West by Germanic kingdoms, the continuing Roman Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Persian Sassanian Empire, and the rise of Islam. Consisting of over 1.5 million words in more than 5,000 A-Z entries, and written by more than 400 contributors, it is the long-awaited middle volume of a series, bridging a significant period of history between those covered by the acclaimed Oxford Classical Dictionary and The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. The scope of the Dictionary is broad and multi-disciplinary; across the wide geographical span covered (from Western Europe and the Mediterranean as far as the Near East and Central Asia), it provides succinct and pertinent information on political history, law, and administration; military history; religion and philosophy; education; social and economic history; material culture; art and architecture; science; literature; and many other areas. Drawing on the latest scholarship, and with a formidable international team of advisers and contributors, The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity aims to establish itself as the essential reference companion to a period that is attracting increasing attention from scholars and students worldwide.

At various times over the past millennium bishops of Rome have claimed a universal primacy of jurisdiction over all Christians and a superiority over civil authority. Reactions to these claims have shaped the modern world profoundly. Did the Roman bishop make such claims in the millennium prior to that? The essays in this volume from international experts in the field examine the bishop of Rome in late antiquity from the time of Constantine at the start of the fourth century to the death of Gregory the Great at the beginning of the seventh. These were important periods as Christianity underwent enormous transformation in a time of change. The essays concentrate on how the holders of the office perceived and exercised their episcopal responsibilities and prerogatives within the city or in relation to both civic administration and other churches in other areas, particularly as revealed through the surviving correspondence. With several of the contributors examining the same evidence from different perspectives, this volume canvasses a wide range of opinions about the nature of papal power in the world of late antiquity.

A new look at the Cult of the Saints in late antiquity: did it really dominate Christianity in late antique Rome?

Bryan Spinks is one of the world’s leading scholars in the field of liturgy and to have a comprehensive work by him on the Eucharist is a major catch for SCM. Like the author’s previous work on Baptism, this will become a standard work about the Eucharist and Eucharistic theology worldwide. The book, a study of the history and theology of the Eucharist, is the fifth volume in the SCM Studies in Worship and Liturgy series and will help to establish the series as a place for landmark books of liturgical scholarship.