Bishops under Threat - Contexts and Episcopal Strategies in the Late Antique and Early Medieval West

The late antique and the early medieval periods witnessed the flourishing of bishops in the West as the main articulators of social life. This influential position exposed them to several threats, both political and religious. Researchers have generally addressed violence, rebellions or conflicts to study the dynamics related to secular powers during these periods. They haven't paid similar attention, however, to those analogous contexts that had bishops as protagonists. This book proposes an approach to bishops as threatened subjects in the late antique and early medieval West. In particular, the volume pursues three main goals. Firstly, it aims to identify the different types of threats that bishops had to deal with. Then it sets out to frame these situations of adversity in their own contexts. Finally, it will address the episcopal strategies deployed to deal with such contexts of adversity. In sum, we aim to underline the impact that these contexts had as a dynamiting factor of episcopal action. Thus the episcopal threats may become a useful approach to study the bishops' relationships with other agents of power, the motivations behind their actions and - last but not least - for understanding the episcopal rising power

About the author

Sabine Panzram, Universität Hamburg, Germany and Pablo Poveda Arias, Universidad de Valladolid, Spain.

Product details

• Assisted by: Sabine Panzram (Editor), Poveda Arias (Editor), Pablo Poveda Arias (Editor)
• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Languages: English, German
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 21.10.2024
• EAN: 9783111622415
• ISBN: 978-3-11-162241-5
• No. of pages: 339
• Dimensions: 155 mm x 20 mm x 230 mm
• Weight: 672 g
• Illustrations: 2 b/w tbl.
• Series: Arbeiten zur Kirchengeschichte
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Religion/theology > Christianity; Mittelalter, Kirchengeschichte, Bischöfe, Machtstrukturen, Christianity, Christian theology, Religion & beliefs, auseinandersetzen, Christian Churches & denominations, Church history, The Early Church, REL015000 RELIGION / Christianity / History, Paperback Project, REL067000 RELIGION / Christian Theology / General, Episcopate, Late Ancient and Early Medieval Christianity, power dynamics