This book is the first cultural history of papal authority in late antiquity. While most traditional histories posit a rise of the papacy and examine popes as politicians, theologians, and civic leaders, Kristina Sessa focuses on the late Roman household and its critical role in the development of the Roman church from ca. 350 600. She argues that Rome's bishops adopted the ancient elite household as a model of good government for leading the church. Central to this phenomenon was the classical and biblical figure of the steward, the householder's appointed agent who oversaw his property and...
This book is the first cultural history of papal authority in late antiquity. While most traditional histories posit a rise of the papacy and examine ...
