Moorhead John. Ambrose: Church and Society in the Late Roman World

Pearson, 1999. — 248 p.One of the four Fathers of the Catholic Church, St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, is one of the dominant figures, not just of the late Antique Christian Church, but of the entire history of Christianity. As such, his actions and writings were constantly re-examined and reinterpreted in later historical periods. His life has acquired an aura which seems to straddle time, rather than being set in any particular historical context. Assessing Ambrose is therefore a complex matter, especially since, while Ambrose’s own writings are voluminous, other relevant contemporary sources are scarce. A member of the aristocracy of the Late Roman Empire and a man of considerable administrative experience before his somewhat unexpected elevation to the episcopate, Ambrose was intensely absorbed in all the issues and controversies of his time. Very conscious of a bishop’s duty to expound Scripture to his flock and to provide pastoral guidance, he devoted a great deal of time to seeking to explain the Bible through sermons and writings. He also took it upon himself to combat heretics and pagans and, when necessary, lay authority as exalted as the Emperor Theodosius. John Moorhead’s second contribution to the Medieval World series is an exceptionally welcome one. As a scholar with a profound interest in the intellectual and religious world of Late Antiquity, he is superbly qualified to assess the life and importance of one of its great figures. And even if he announces that his Ambrose lacks the originality of Augustine, the clarity of Gregory the Great and the zeal of Jerome — and, indeed, the range and humanity of all three — this book takes its reader engagingly into a complex and vibrant world. A study both of an individual and of Church and society in the Late Roman Empire, it illuminates the foundations on which more than one thousand years of medieval Christian history were to build.