This volume results from the international research project 'The Migration of Faith: Clerical Exile in Late Antiquity (325-c.600)'. The project is a collaboration between the Department of History at the University of Sheffield, the Seminar fur Kirchengeschichte at the University of Halle, and the Department of Culture and Society at Aarhus University. Ten chapters of the volume are revised versions of papers delivered at the XVII International Conference on Patristic Studies held in Oxford in 2015. The three chapters of the first part of the volume discuss the question of "Clerical Exile and Social Control". The second part offers five selected case studies from the 3rd to the 6th centuries. The final part deals with discourses, memories, and legacies of clerical exile in late antiquity.

In Defence of Christianity examines the early Christian apologists in their context in thirteen articles divided in four parts. Part I provides an introduction to apology and apologetics in antiquity, an overview of the early Christian apologists, and an outline of their argumentation. The nine articles of Part II each cover one of the early apologists: Aristides, Justin, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus, the author of the Letter to Diognetus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian and Minucius Felix. Part III contextualises the apologists by providing an English translation of contemporary pagan criticism of Christianity and by discussing this critique. Part IV consists of a single article discussing how Eusebius depicted and used the apologists in his Ecclesiastical History.

This collection of essays examines Christian martyrdom by locating it in different historical, cultural and social contexts. Chronologically, the book analyses traditions predating the Christian martyr literature and ideology proper, and studies an example of how this ideology was transformed in the post-Constantinian era. Within this chronological span the following contextual themes are discussed: the arena and the values represented by gladiatorial combat and executions; the reaction of 'others' to Christian martyrdom and martyr ideology; how Christians differentiated suicide from martyrdom; the relationship between Christian apologetic literature and martyr literature; and the conceptions of gender and sexuality in Jewish and Christian martyr literature in their Greco-Roman setting.

Impulsore Chresto reassesses opposition to Christianity AD 50-250. The Roman authorities' persecutions have caught the attention of both the public, intrigued by martyrs, and scholars, arguing that executions were relatively rare. This is not challenged, but the executions are placed in context as the most dramatic aspect of a spectrum of opposition including rumors, polemic, harassment and accusations. Such opposition was taken for granted and rarely described. When studying the preserved texts on trials against Christians, however, it appears that even here relatives, plaintiffs, spectators or local officials played crucial roles. There were as many reasons for opposition as opponents, but some motives reappear in clusters: Christians were perceived as superstitious and ungodly, as endangering peace with the gods and social order.