Research Catalog

Subversive virtue : asceticism and authority in the second-century pagan world

Title: Subversive virtue : asceticism and authority in the second-century pagan world / James A. Francis.
Author: Francis, James A., 1954-
Publication: University Park, Pa. : Pennsylvania State University Press, [1995], ©1995.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Request in advance	BJ171.A82 F73 1995	Off-site

Description

xviii, 222 pages; 23 cm

Summary

Much attention has been devoted in recent years to Christian asceticism in Late Antiquity. But Christianity did not introduce asceticism to the ancient world. An underlying theme of this fascinating study of pagan asceticism is that much of the work on Christian "holy men" has ignored earlier manifestations of asceticism in Antiquity and the way Roman society confronted it.
Accordingly, James Francis looks to the second century, the "balmy late afternoon of Rome's classical empire," when the conflict between asceticism and authority reached a turning point.
Francis begins with the emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180), who warned in his Meditations against "display(ing) oneself as a man keen to impress others with a reputation for asceticism or beneficence. The Stoic Aurelius saw ascetic self-discipline as a virtue, but one to be exercised in moderation. Like other Roman aristocrats of his day, he perceived practitioners of ostentatious physical asceticism as a threat to prevailing norms and the established order.
Prophecy, sorcery, miracle working, charismatic leadership, expressions of social discontent, and advocacy of alternative values regarding wealth, property, marriage, and sexuality were the issues provoking the controversy.

Subjects

Bibliography (note)

Contents

1. Stoicism: Setting the Norm. The Evolution of Stoicism. Philosophy in Opposition and Opposition to Philosophy. Musonius Rufus and Epictetus -- 2. Marcus Aurelius: Rational Asceticism and Social Conservatism. Aurelius as an Ascetic. The Asceticism of Reason. Asceticism and Personal Authority. Social Norms and Social Conformity. The "Common Perspective" of the Educated Class -- 3. Lucian: Ascetics as Enemies of Culture. Peregrinus's Character and Career. Cynicism in the Second Century. Peregrinus's Death and the Holy Man. Culture and Society -- 4. Apollonius of Tyana: The Rehabilitated Ascetic. Earlier Traditions Inimical to Apollonius: Goeteia. Apollonius's Ascetical Practice. Apollonius's Exercise of Authority. Miracles and the Holy Man. The Socially Acceptable Ascetic -- 5. Celsus: Christians, Ascetics, and Rebels. The Person of Jesus. Celsus's Concept of Religion. Social Values and Social Order. Asceticism, Heresy, and Second Century Christianity. Toward a United Front.
6. Ascetics and Holy Men: Conflict, Change, and Continuity.

ISBN

0271013044 (alk. paper)

LCCN

93021081

OCLC

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries