"Caner draws together traditions, episodes, and groups from across
the geographical expanse of the Roman Empire (the Syrian Orient,
North Africa, Constantinople), to present the wandering monk as a
figure around whom the ecclesiastical battle for authority fought
between bishops and ascetics took on acute articulations. By
focusing on religious practices rather than doctrinal teachings,
Caner is able to weave together hitherto separate discussions to
reveal a larger pattern of profound change in late antique
Christian culture, as different models of monasticism competed for
economic and political power in urban centers. This is very
important work. It makes major contributions to our understanding
of early Christian asceticism, the emergence of monasticism as an
institution within church and society, and church-state relations
in the later Roman Empire."--Susan Ashbrook Harvey, author of
Asceticism and Society in Crisis: John of Ephesus and the "Lives of
the Eastern Saints.
"Caner has cut through to the heart of central issues in the
study of early Christian asceticism: social stability, economic
self-sufficiency, and the reliability of the sources at our
disposal. Those who were apparently unstable and dependent, the
wanderers and beggars of his title, occupy the foreground of his
account; but his chief argument is that they have to be placed in a
broader social and historical context that softens the edges of
their idiosyncrasy, and that we have to be careful not to take at
face value the exaggerated categories of mutually belligerent
parties in the church. . . . The second half of the work begins by
tackling the "Messalian" movement--asking whether it is appropriate
to talk of a"movement" in so distinctive a way. The supposedly
typical "Messalian" inclination--an inclination to dramatic
indigence in the service of continuous prayer--seems less sui
generis, when placed alongside more moderate forms of ascetic
dedication. We are warned, therefore, not to accept too readily the
paradigms of heresy-hunters like Epiphanius. Caner's account marks
an important step forward in our understanding of such patterns of
ascetic behavior. Caner also ventures upon an equally fresh and
welcome investigation of what lay behind the contentious attitudes
of John Chrysostom and Nilus of Ancyra, and then--perhaps even more
exciting--explains how the whole study transforms our understanding
of the maelstrom of politics that impinged upon religious debate
between the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon. We are thus brought
to realize how eagerly and disruptively ascetic rivals struggled to
attract and retain the patronage of the Christian elite, even to
the imperial level."--Philip Rousseau, author of "Pachomius: The
Making of a Community in Fourth-Century Egypt, and "Basil of
Caesarea
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