Retrieve Authorised Lives In Early Christian Biography: Between Eusebius Augustine (Classical Studies) Authored By Michael Stuart Williams Document

task in this book is to define a distinctively Christian genre of biography in late antiquity, to defend his definition and to explicate its significance.
This he does with primary reference to Eusebius' Constantine, Gregory of Nyssa's Basil, Athanasius' Life of Anthony, Jerome's Paul and Hilarion and Augustine's Confessions, employing them to both describe the character of the genre and, through Augustine's changing views of postbiblical biography, its limits.
Augustine is by far the most prominent figure in this book, partly because so much survives of his work, partly because his work most amply reflects the sophisticated selfconsciousness of some Christians in the latter days of the Roman Empire.

The aforementioned biographies before Augustine rather naively practiced a scripturallybased typology whereby Basil and Constantine reproduced Moses Anthony and Paul the Hermit, Elijah, Hilarion, the Christ.
The intent of this was not only to inspire with exemplary lives as the pagans did in their biographies, but to demonstrate ongoing divine providence which served both to justify biblical antecedents and to give such remote exemplars currency.
The distinctive difference of such Christian biographies from their pagan parallels was that, first, their template was considered metaphysically authoritative and, second, that “the reenactment of scripture recollected the actual lives of illiterate shepherds and fisherman at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean” pp.
f. rather than those of legendary demigods and aristocrats, Indeed, these earlier vitae virtually served, as did the plethora of gospels, acts, epistles and apocalypses claiming canonicity, as extensions of holy writ,
It was against this extension of authority that Augustine, at least by the time of composition of his Confessions, took his stand, Distinguishing between Augustine the authorand Augustine, the author's character, Williams closely analyzes the processes by which the Bishop of Hippo came to draw a clear line between the canonical authority of scripture and its subsequent appropriations and interpretations.
The Life of Anthony, seen as inspired by the younger Augustine, was not so simply viewed by the elder,
What Williams does, he does thoroughlyalmost too thoroughly, as the same points are made again and again, What he fails to do, however, is to provide much historical contextualization, This is shown by his meager treatment of the objective factors obtaining as regards Augustine's change in worldly position between his Confessions and his investiture as bishop.

The young Augustine inhabiting the autobiography is represented as sharing the relatively uncritical stance of the other, earlier Christian biographers, For them, the lives of certain exemplary saints ranging from a diverse array of hermits to a dubiously Christian emperor clearly showed the hand of God operating in the contemporary world.
I write “represented” as this may not in fact have been the case given the historical Augustine's familiarity with the skeptics of the Late Academy.
In other words, the author may have

represented the character as more naive than he actually was, His Confessions were intended to make certain points and this may have justified a simplification of events,
The elder Augustine, now a major figure in an African province wracked by theological and political divisionmost notably between the native Donatists, whom he opposed, and the Church of Rome, whom he representedcould no longer blithely countenance religious enthusiasm.
Instead, even in his Confessions, he writes at a distance, employing passive constructions, questioning his own memory, adding qualifications as in the famous “tolle, lege” episode.
For him, while the authority of the canon established by imperially authorized councils is maintained, all else which might challenge strict, centrally determined orthodoxy or his own episcopal authority is in question.

Such critique notwithstanding, Williams has performed a fine job of describing a distinctive genre of early Christian biography distinct from biblical and pagan antecedents.
What was distinctive about Xian biography in late antiquity This book examines a range of biographies of prominent Xians written in theth centuries, suggesting they share a purpose amp function which sets them apart from nonXian equivalents.
This was an age in which the lives of saintsst emerged as a literary phenomenon, amp a broad perspective on this developing genre is complemented by close readings of more problematic works such as Eusebius of Caesarea's Life of Constantine amp the Confessions of Augustine of Hippo.
In including such idiosyncratic examples, the aim is to provide a definition of Xian biography which extends beyond mere hagiography, amp which expresses a new understanding of the world amp the place of individuals within it.
It was a world in which lives might be authored by Xians, but could be authorised only by God,
Introduction: biography amp typology
Preface
Abbreviations
Constantine: the authorised life
Gregory amp Basil: a double life
Antony amp Jerome: life on the edge
Augustine: the life of the mind
The end of sacred history
Conclusion: authorised lives
Bibliography
Conclusion.