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Jesus taught his followers that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Yet by the fall of Rome, the church was becoming rich beyond measure. Through the Eye of a Needle is a sweeping intellectual and social history of the vexing problem of wealth in Christianity in the waning days of the Roman Empire, written by the world's foremost scholar of late antiquity. Peter Brown examines the rise of the church through the lens of money and the challenges it posed to an institution that espoused the virtue of poverty and called avarice the root of all evil. 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.… (més)
Un ensayo sobre el desarrollo de la Iglesia entre los ultimos años del imperio romano de occidente y su desmembramiento. con especial atenciòn puesta en el manejo de la riqueza. Toma algunos grandes personajes San Ambrosio de Milan, San Agustín de Hipona, y luego los años que preanuncian la Edad Media. Me esclareció muchísimo el tema de la caída del Imperio vinculada con la invasión de los Vándalos a Africa. ( )
Magisterial, well-written, but perhaps a little too detailed for the common reader. Brown seems to be making up a field of study as much as actually studying a field, which is of course very impressive, but I also found myself wondering what exactly he was looking at--there are lots of texts and ideas, and a few biographies and lives, and perhaps not quite enough broader social history for my taste (I mean not quite enough proportionally: there's plenty in there, and it's very good).
This is a thorough and enlightening study of the development of the Western Church from the Fourth through the Sixth centuries seen through the filter of how it dealt with the rich and with the idea of wealth in general. The major focus is on Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome, but a great deal of attention is also given to more of the "background", especially in Gaul and Spain.
This is both readable and informative and deserves to become a standard resource on the period. ( )
This learned and well-written book totally transformed my understanding of both the later Roman Empire and the early centuries of Christianity. To take one example, I knew Carthage was an important city, but I had no idea how important; it was essentially the Rome of North Africa, its hinterland was the source of Rome's grain supply after the grain of Egypt started going to Constantinople, and its loss to the Vandals was one of the biggest blows to the Empire in its slow collapse. As for the church, Brown brings to life personalities like Augustine, Jerome, and Pelagius and shows how their ideas interacted with the people and culture around them and with the situation of the Empire at the time. Anyone with even a slight interest in the period and topic should read it. ( )
Working with what seems like a fairly prosaic theme, Peter Brown has written a tremendous history that suggests that the relationship of the Church in late antiquity to wealth and the wealthy is a key driver of the establishment of Christianity in the West. By quoting extensively from major intellectual figures of the day such as Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome and others, creates a picture of a society whose ideas have as rich a subtlety and complexity as those of any age. I constantly found myself turning the footnotes to ask myself, "how could he know that?"
Brown is always aware that he is dealing with writers who lived, not with dry texts. As he says of one of his sources, "Salvian was a vivid person with his own, idiosyncratic take on the problems of his day." It is this ability to get at the person behind the text, however dimly observed, that makes Brown's book so compelling. This is not the Christianity of Gibbon's Decline and Fall, which paints a picture of religious intolerance, but rather a religion whose complex relationship with wealth positioned it to survive the economic collapse of the Empire. ( )
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Jesus said to him: "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.
And Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, 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."
When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished, saying: "Who then can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
-Matthew 19:21-26 (Revised Standard Version)
Dedicatòria
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For Betsy
Primeres paraules
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Préface
Je souhaite examiner dans ce livre l’impact de la richesse sur les églises chrétiennes d’Occident dans les derniers siècles de l’Empire romain et dans le premier siècle de l’âge post-impérial, c’est-à-dire approximativement du milieu du IVe siècle à la consolidation des royaumes barbares post-romains au cours de la période conventionnellement associée à la « chute de Rome ». [...]
Partie I Richesse, Christianisme et son à la fin d'un monde ancien
Chapitre premier Aurea Aetas : la richesse à l'âge d'or
Du rusticulus (petit fermier) au censor (notable civique) Richesse, privilège et pouvoir
Nous commencerons ce chapitre par quelques considérations générales. Nous traiterons d’abord de la manière spécifique dont la richesse et le statut social étaient liés dans la société romaine. Nous verrons ensuite comment la richesse était tirée de la terre. [...]
Citacions
Darreres paraules
Nota de desambiguació
Editor de l'editorial
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Jesus taught his followers that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Yet by the fall of Rome, the church was becoming rich beyond measure. Through the Eye of a Needle is a sweeping intellectual and social history of the vexing problem of wealth in Christianity in the waning days of the Roman Empire, written by the world's foremost scholar of late antiquity. Peter Brown examines the rise of the church through the lens of money and the challenges it posed to an institution that espoused the virtue of poverty and called avarice the root of all evil. 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.
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