Heirs of Roman Persecution: Studies on a Christian and Para-Christian Discourse in Late Antiquity

363 Pages·2019·3.303 MB·English

by  Éric Fournier (editor), Wendy Mayer (editor)

Heirs of Roman Persecution
The subject of this book is the discourse of persecution used by Christians in Late
Antiquity (c. 300–700 CE).
Through a series of detailed case studies covering the full chronological and
geographical span of the period, this book investigates how the conversion of
the Roman Empire to Christianity changed the way that Christians and para-
Christians perceived the hostile treatments they received, either by fellow
Christians or by people of other religions. A closely related second goal of this
volume is to encourage scholars to think more precisely about the terminological
difficulties related to the study of persecution. Indeed, despite sustained interest in
the subject, few scholars have sought to distinguish between such closely related
concepts as punishment, coercion, physical violence, and persecution. Often,
these terms are used interchangeably. Although there are no easy answers, an
emphatic conclusion of the studies assembled in this volume is that “persecution”
was a malleable rhetorical label in late antique discourse, whose meaning shifted
depending on the viewpoint of the authors who used it.
This leads to our third objective: to analyze the role and function played
by rhetoric and polemic in late antique claims to be persecuted. Late antique
Christian writers who cast their present as a repetition of past persecutions often
aimed to attack the legitimacy of the dominant Christian faction through a process
of othering. This discourse also expressed a polarizing worldview in order to
strengthen the group identity of the writers’ community in the midst of ideological
conflicts and to encourage steadfastness against the temptation to collaborate with
the other side.
Éric Fournier is Professor of History at West Chester University of Pennsylvania.
Wendy Mayer is Associate Dean for Research and Professor at University of
Divinity, Australian Lutheran College.

Heirs of Roman Persecution
Studies on a Christian and Para-Christian
Discourse in Late Antiquity
Edited by Éric Fournier and
Wendy Mayer
First published 2020
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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© 2020 selection and editorial matter, Éric Fournier and Wendy Mayer;
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-8153-7512-8 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-08819-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-24069-7 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781351240697
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Contents
Foreword viii
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations x
Contributors xii
1 The Christian discourse of persecution in Late Antiquity:
An introduction 1
ÉRIC FOURNIER
PART I
The later Roman Empire of the fourth and fifth centuries 23
2 Breaking the apocalyptic frame: Persecution and the rise of
Constantine 25
ELIZABETH DEPALMA DIGESER
3 Begrudging the honor: Julian and Christian martyrdom 44
NATHANIEL MOREHOUSE
4 A misunderstood emperor?: Valens as a persecuting ruler in
late antique literature 61
MAIJASTINA KAHLOS
5 Theologies under persecution: Gregory of Nazianzus and the
Syntagmation of Aetius 79
BYRON MACDOUGALL
6 For their own good: Augustine and the rhetoric of
beneficial persecution 95
ADAM PLOYD
vi Contents
7 In the footsteps of the Apostles of Light: Persecution and the
Manichaean discourse of suffering 112
MATTIAS BRAND
PART II
Post-Roman kingdoms of the Western Mediterranean
(fifth to seventh centuries) 135
8 “To collect gold from hidden caves”: Victor of Vita and the
Vandal “persecution” of heretical barbarians in late antique
North Africa 137
ÉRIC FOURNIER
9 “You have made common cause with their persecutors”:
Gelasius, the language of persecution, and the Acacian Schism 164
SAMUEL COHEN
10 Everyone but the kings: The rhetoric of (non-)persecution
in Gregory of Tours’ Histories 184
ÉRIC FOURNIER
11 Persecutio, seductio, and the limits of rhetorical intolerance
in Visigothic Iberia 213
MOLLY LESTER
PART III
Eastern Mediterranean in the fifth to seventh centuries 235
12 The city a palimpsest: Rewriting Arian violence
in fifth-century historiography 237
REBECCA STEPHENS FALCASANTOS
13 The name of ill-omen: Basiliscus and the church
in Constantinople 255
JASON OSEQUEDA
14 Martyrs of exile: John of Ephesus and religious persecution 277
CHRISTINE SHEPARDSON
Contents vii
15 Persecution and apostasy: Christian identity during the crises
of the seventh century 296
RYAN W. STRICKLER
PART IV
Theorizing persecution discourse 315
16 Heirs of Roman persecution: Common threads in discursive
strategies across Late Antiquity 317
WENDY MAYER
Index 341
Foreword
The present volume draws its origins from two panels I organized on the
theme of “Persecutions of Christians after Constantine: Polemic and Rhetorical
Discourse,” presented at the annual meeting of the North American Patristics
Society, Chicago, on May 26, 2016. It includes revised versions of all papers
from these sessions (Éric Fournier’s introduction, Nathaniel Morehouse, Adam
Ployd, Rebecca Falcasantos, Jason Osequeda, Tina Shepardson, Ryan Strickler,
and Wendy Mayer’s conclusion), in addition to the chapters we commissioned
scholars (Elizabeth Digeser, Maijastina Kahlos, Byron MacDougall, Mattias
Brand, Samuel Cohen, and Molly Lester) to write in order to ensure a broader
coverage of the late antique period. All chapters have gone through a process of
double-blind peer review. Of course, it is impossible to be comprehensive and
exhaustive in a volume of this sort, and this was never our goal. Rather, we aimed
to include contributions on times and places covering a representative span of
the late antique period in order to present meaningful analyses of the discourse
of persecution that will, hopefully, lead to more discussions on this important
topic. In the end, while we regret the absence of analyses of numerous topics
(e.g., Justinian’s reign), we can only conclude by hoping that it will inspire schol-
ars to take on further analysis of the late antique discourse of persecution.
– Éric Fournier
Acknowledgments
I wish to thank all of the contributors to this volume for their hard and constantly
prompt work. It has been a pleasure to work with this team of engaging and dedi-
cated scholars. In addition to my usual procrastination, purchasing a house, organ-
izing a wedding, and undergoing knee surgery conspired to make the editing of
this book a longer process than it should ever have taken. I therefore also thank all
of the contributors for their patience during this process. Wendy Mayer deserves
my gratitude for accepting to co-edit this volume with me and for offering crucial
support at important junctures along the way. Her calm and steady hand guided
this ship to its final harbor. I particularly thank Sam Cohen and Molly Lester for
stepping up at the last minute and saving the day by accepting to write chapters
in a very short time to replace two contributors who had to withdraw from the
project. They both must be commended for their extraordinary ability to work
efficiently under a tight deadline and, for Molly, under trying physical circum-
stances. I also thank a humbling host of friends and colleagues who contributed to
this volume in various and significant ways: Nicholas Baker-Brian, Todd Berzon,
Phil Booth, Erica Buchburger, Mark DelCogliano, Rebecca Devlin, Geoff Dunn,
Hal Drake, Jan Willem Drijvers, Jen Ebbeler, Susanna Elm, Richard Flower,
Geoffrey Greatrex, Erika Hermanowicz, Julia Hillner, Nathan Howard, Eduard
Iricinschi, Young Kim, Michael Mass, Arietta Papaconstantinou, Éric Rebillard,
David Maldonado Rivera, Alan Ross, Jeanne-Nicole Saint-Laurent, Maria Marcos
Sanchez, Jeremy Schott, Tina Sessa, Mark Tizzoni, and Jamie Wood. Michael
Greenwood was supportive of this project from the start, and his editorial assis-
tant, Dana Moss, promptly answered all of my queries while remaining flexible
during the editing process. My student at West Chester University (WCU), Ben
Popp, compiled the index at the end of a trying semester, and I thank the members
of the Drayer Endowment committee of the history department at WCU for fund-
ing Ben’s work. I can’t help but have a thought for Tom, and wish that he could
have seen this. His presence throughout the pages of this book is a reminder of his
profound influence on my own thinking as a historian and how much he is missed.
Finally, I thank Sara, for putting up with my work, for having too much fun all the
time, and for being there for me no matter what.
– Éric Fournier