City of Demons: Violence, Ritual, and Christian Power in Late Antiquity

City of Demons: Violence, Ritual, and Christian Power in Late Antiquity
ISBN-10
0520276477
ISBN-13
9780520276475
Category
Religion
Pages
374
Language
English
Published
2015-10-13
Publisher
Univ of California Press
Author
Dayna S. Kalleres

Description

Although it would appear in studies of late antique ecclesiastical authority and power that scholars have covered everything, an important aspect of the urban bishop has long been neglected: his role as demonologist and exorcist. When the emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the realm, bishops and priests everywhere struggledÊ to ÒChristianizeÓ the urban spaces still dominated by Greco-Roman monuments and festivals. During this period of upheaval, when congregants seemingly attended everything but their own ÒorthodoxÓ church, many ecclesiastical leaders began simultaneously to promote aggressive and insidious depictions of the demonic. In City of Demons, Dayna S. Kalleres investigates this developing discourse and the church-sponsored rituals that went along with it, showing how shifting ecclesiastical demonologies and evolving practices of exorcism profoundly shaped Christian life in the fourth century.

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