Repentance in late antiquity
Eastern asceticism and the framing of the Christian life c.400-650 CE
The call to repentance is central to the message of early Christianity. While this is undeniable, the precise meaning of the concept of repentance for early Christians has rarely been investigated to any great extent, beyond studies of the rise of penitential discipline. In this study, the rich variety of meanings and applications of the concept of repentance are examined, with a particular focus on the writings of several ascetic theologians of the fifth to seventh centuries. These theologians provide some of the most sustained and detailed elaborations of the concept of repentance in late antiquity: SS Mark the Monk, Barsanuphius and John of Gaza, and John Climacus. They predominantly see repentance as a positive, comprehensive idea that serves to frame the whole of Christian life, not simply one or more of its parts.
Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.
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Nonfiction
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Balanced tone · Steady pace
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
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- ISBN-13
- 978-0-1996-6536-5
- Language
- English
- Edition record
- OL28390338M
A more thoughtful way into this book
This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.
A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.
Begin with its place in Nonfiction, then notice where the book resists that label.
Read for connection, not completion.
Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.
Three questions to carry with you
- Whose perspective organizes the story, and whose perspective remains outside it?
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- How does the book change the way you understand its larger subject?
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