Against the Cult of the Saints: The Early Modern Invention of Late Antique Rome

FAIN: FA-232931-16

Nicola Denzey Lewis
Brown University (Providence, RI 02912-9100)

A book-length history of the development of saint worship in early Christian Rome.

This grant application is to complete a book which challenges the common understanding of late antique Christianity as dominated by the Cult of the Saints. Popularized by historian Peter Brown, the Cult of the Saints presupposes that a "corporeal turn" in the 4th century CE initiated a new sense of the body (even the corpse or the bone) as holy. Against the Cult of the Saints: The Early Modern Invention of Late Antique Rome argues that although present elsewhere in the late Roman Empire, no such “corporeal turn” happened in Rome until the early modern period. The prevailing assumption that it did – fostered by the apologetic concerns of early modern Catholic scholars – has led us to gloss over important evidence to the contrary. This book delves deeper into the world of Roman late antique Christianity to explore how it differed from the set of practices and beliefs we have come to think flourished in this crucial age of Christianization.

Associated Products

"Women and Independent Religious Specialists in 2nd-Century Rome" (Book Section)
Title: "Women and Independent Religious Specialists in 2nd-Century Rome"
Author: Nicola Denzey Lewis
Editor: Ulla Tervahauta
Editor: Ivan Miroshnikov
Editor: Ismo Dunderberg
Abstract: na
Year: 2018
Publisher: Leiden, Netherlands: Brill
Book Title: Women and Knowledge: Festschrift for Antti Marjanen

"Lived Religion Among 2nd-Century Gnostic Hieratic Specialists" (Book Section)
Title: "Lived Religion Among 2nd-Century Gnostic Hieratic Specialists"
Author: Nicola Denzey Lewis
Editor: Georgia Petridou
Editor: Jorg Rupke
Editor: Richard Gordon
Abstract: na
Year: 2017
Publisher: Berlin: DeGruyter
Book Title: Beyond Duty: Religious Professionals in the Roman Empire

The Early Modern Invention of Late Antique Rome (Book)
Title: The Early Modern Invention of Late Antique Rome
Author: Nicola Denzey Lewis
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/early-modern-invention-of-late-antique-rome/61B5AF6597A94FA401DF096F67280D46
Primary URL Description: Publisher website
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9781108646826

---