Diversity in Late Antique Christianity: The Cultural Turn, Provincial Archaeology, and Church Building
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Philipp Niewöhner
Abstract
This paper considers archaeological evidence for various aspects of early Christian church building and comes to the conclusion that diversity was an essential quality of late antique Christianity. The diversity in question is ill-attested in written sources, but becomes apparent when the material record and everyday life are taken into consideration (cultural/material/pictorial/iconic turn). Church buildings looked and functioned differently in various regions and provinces of the late Roman empire. The diversity does not appear to have been accidental, but was cultivated throughout late antiquity. It was sometimes related to, but did not depend on, differences in liturgical practice, nor was it a matter of knowledge, ability, and workshop tradition alone. Provincial diversity was maintained even when and where the metropolitan alternative was manifestly known and available and although secular art and architecture continued to uniformly emulate the capital cities. A combination of written and material evidence suggests that the diverse formal repertoire of early Christian art and architecture was chosen and decided individually, but tended to form local/provincial/regional clusters. The decision makers seem to have been guided by religious conventions as well as by personal or political allegiances, many of which appear to have been determined locally, each province or region onto itself.
Acknowledgement
This article is the result of research funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), Projektnummer 406117376. I would also like Jon Cubas Diaz (Göttingen), Hartmut Leppin (Frankfurt), and Georgi Parpulov (Göttingen) for various advice.
© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Articles
- Luke 9:57–62: Ὁδός to Marcion’s God?
- The Biblical Hermeneutics of Noetus of Smyrna
- Ambiguous Christians and Their Useful Texts: Tatian, Bardaisan, Symmachus, and Rhodon in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History
- Historical Ruptures in Eusebius’ History of the Jerusalem Church
- Anlehnungen an andere Autoren in Briefen des Nilus von Ankyra
- Diversity in Late Antique Christianity: The Cultural Turn, Provincial Archaeology, and Church Building
- Rezensionen
- Hans Reinhard Seeliger und Wolfgang Wischmeyer (Hgg.): Legendae martyrum urbis Romae: lateinisch-deutsch = Märtyrerlegenden der Stadt Rom, Fontes Christiani 96, Freiburg Basel/Wien (Herder) 2022, Bd. 96/1: S. 272, ISBN 978-3-451-329302, € 45,–; Bd. 96/2: S. 360, ISBN 978-3-451-32931-9, € 50,–.
- Robert G. T. Edwards: Providence and Narrative in the Theology of John Chrysostom, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2022, S. 217, ISBN 978-1-009-22093-4, £ 85,–.
- Johanna Schenk: Traditionsbezug und Transformation. Die Briefe des Avitus von Vienne als Inszenierungen eines spätantiken Bischofs, Roma Aeterna, Stuttgart (Franz Steiner Verlag) 2021, S. 291, ISBN 978-3-515-12872-8, € 56,–.
- Christine Luckritz Marquis: Death of the Desert. Monastic Memory and the Loss of Egypt’s Golden Age, Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion, Philadelphia, PA. (University of Pennsylvania Press) 2022, S. 264, ISBN: 9780812253627, $ 65,–.
- Alfons Fürst (ed.): Perspectives on Origen and the History of his Reception, Adamantiana 21, Münster (Aschendorff) 2021, S. 368, ISBN 978-3-402-13752-9, € 56,–.
- Athanasios Despotis and Hermut Löhr (eds.): Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, Ancient Philosophy and Religion 5, Leiden/Boston (Brill) 2022, S. XII + 477, ISBN 978-900-450-1768, € 180,–.
- Marian Burchardt and Maria Chiara Giorda (eds.): Geographies of Encounter: The Making and Unmaking of Multi-Religious Spaces, Cham (Palgrave Macmillan) 2021, S. xx + 330, ISBN 978-3-030-82524-9, € 137,49.
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Articles
- Luke 9:57–62: Ὁδός to Marcion’s God?
- The Biblical Hermeneutics of Noetus of Smyrna
- Ambiguous Christians and Their Useful Texts: Tatian, Bardaisan, Symmachus, and Rhodon in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History
- Historical Ruptures in Eusebius’ History of the Jerusalem Church
- Anlehnungen an andere Autoren in Briefen des Nilus von Ankyra
- Diversity in Late Antique Christianity: The Cultural Turn, Provincial Archaeology, and Church Building
- Rezensionen
- Hans Reinhard Seeliger und Wolfgang Wischmeyer (Hgg.): Legendae martyrum urbis Romae: lateinisch-deutsch = Märtyrerlegenden der Stadt Rom, Fontes Christiani 96, Freiburg Basel/Wien (Herder) 2022, Bd. 96/1: S. 272, ISBN 978-3-451-329302, € 45,–; Bd. 96/2: S. 360, ISBN 978-3-451-32931-9, € 50,–.
- Robert G. T. Edwards: Providence and Narrative in the Theology of John Chrysostom, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2022, S. 217, ISBN 978-1-009-22093-4, £ 85,–.
- Johanna Schenk: Traditionsbezug und Transformation. Die Briefe des Avitus von Vienne als Inszenierungen eines spätantiken Bischofs, Roma Aeterna, Stuttgart (Franz Steiner Verlag) 2021, S. 291, ISBN 978-3-515-12872-8, € 56,–.
- Christine Luckritz Marquis: Death of the Desert. Monastic Memory and the Loss of Egypt’s Golden Age, Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion, Philadelphia, PA. (University of Pennsylvania Press) 2022, S. 264, ISBN: 9780812253627, $ 65,–.
- Alfons Fürst (ed.): Perspectives on Origen and the History of his Reception, Adamantiana 21, Münster (Aschendorff) 2021, S. 368, ISBN 978-3-402-13752-9, € 56,–.
- Athanasios Despotis and Hermut Löhr (eds.): Religious and Philosophical Conversion in the Ancient Mediterranean Traditions, Ancient Philosophy and Religion 5, Leiden/Boston (Brill) 2022, S. XII + 477, ISBN 978-900-450-1768, € 180,–.
- Marian Burchardt and Maria Chiara Giorda (eds.): Geographies of Encounter: The Making and Unmaking of Multi-Religious Spaces, Cham (Palgrave Macmillan) 2021, S. xx + 330, ISBN 978-3-030-82524-9, € 137,49.
