Averil Cameron

Fellow of the British Academy Warden Keble College Averil Cameron

Marked by a power shift from Rome to Constantinople and the Christianization of the Empire, this era requires a narrative and interpretative history of its own. Cameron, an authority on later Roman and early Byzantine history and culture, captures the pivotal fourth century, doing justice to the enormous explosion of recent scholarship.

The Later Roman Empire, AD 284-430

Many reasons can be given for the rise of Christianity in late antiquity and its flourishing in the medieval world. In asking how Christianity succeeded in becoming the dominant ideology in the unpromising circumstances of the Roman Empire, Averil Cameron turns to the development of Christian discourse over the first to sixth centuries A.D., investigating the discourse's essential characteristics, its effects on existing forms of communication, and its eventual preeminence. Scholars of late antiquity and general readers interested in this crucial historical period will be intrigued by her exploration of these influential changes in modes of communication. The emphasis that Christians placed on language--writing, talking, and preaching--made possible the formation of a powerful and indeed a totalizing discourse, argues the author. Christian discourse was sufficiently flexible to be used as a public and political instrument, yet at the same time to be used to express private feelings and emotion. Embracing the two opposing poles of logic and mystery, it contributed powerfully to the gradual acceptance of Christianity and the faith's transformation from the enthusiasm of a small sect to an institutionalized world religion.

The Development of Christian Discourse

Christianity and the Rhetoric of Empire

This book discusses the historical value and sixth century context of the Greek historian Procopius of Caesarea.

Procopius and the Sixth Century

This book provides both a detailed introduction to the vivid and exciting period of `late antiquity' and a direct challenge to conventional views of the end of the Empire.

Fellow of the British Academy Warden Keble College Averil Cameron

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