LEADER 04196nam 2200865 a 450 001 9910959534103321 005 20221214161542.0 010 $a9786613860620 010 $a9781283548175 010 $a1283548178 010 $a9781400844531 010 $a1400844533 024 7 $a10.1515/9781400844531 035 $a(CKB)2670000000233586 035 $a(EBL)980041 035 $a(OCoLC)808341119 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000701986 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11940517 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000701986 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10675564 035 $a(PQKB)11541062 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse43252 035 $a(DE-B1597)453824 035 $a(OCoLC)1013938590 035 $a(OCoLC)1037980159 035 $a(OCoLC)1041991411 035 $a(OCoLC)1046607345 035 $a(OCoLC)1047006187 035 $a(OCoLC)1049147796 035 $a(OCoLC)1054866751 035 $a(OCoLC)900201346 035 $a(DE-B1597)9781400844531 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL980041 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10583906 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL386062 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC980041 035 $a(dli)heb40129.0001.001 035 $a(MiU)MIU401290001001 035 $a(PPN)187271992 035 $a(Perlego)735572 035 $a(FR-PaCSA)88811621 035 $a(FRCYB88811621)88811621 035 $a(EXLCZ)992670000000233586 100 $a20111104d2012 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aThrough the eye of a needle $ewealth, the fall of Rome, and the making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD /$fPeter Brown 205 $aCourse Book 210 $aPrinceton $cPrinceton University Press$dc2012 215 $a1 online resource (806 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 08$a9780691161778 311 08$a0691161771 311 08$a9780691152905 311 08$a069115290X 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $apt. 1. Wealth, Christianity, and giving at the end of an ancient world -- pt. 2. An age of affluence -- pt. 3. An age of crisis -- pt. 4. Aftermaths -- pt. 5. Toward another world. 330 $aJesus taught his followers that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Yet by the fall of Rome, the church was becoming rich beyond measure. Through the Eye of a Needle is a sweeping intellectual and social history of the vexing problem of wealth in Christianity in the waning days of the Roman Empire, written by the world's foremost scholar of late antiquity. Peter Brown examines the rise of the church through the lens of money and the challenges it posed to an institution that espoused the virtue of poverty and called avarice the root of all evil. Drawing on the writings of major Christian thinkers such as Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome, Brown examines the controversies and changing attitudes toward money caused by the influx of new wealth into church coffers, and describes the spectacular acts of divestment by rich donors and their growing influence in an empire beset with crisis. He shows how the use of wealth for the care of the poor competed with older forms of philanthropy deeply rooted in the Roman world, and sheds light on the ordinary people who gave away their money in hopes of treasure in heaven. Through the Eye of a Needle challenges the widely held notion that Christianity's growing wealth sapped Rome of its ability to resist the barbarian invasions, and offers a fresh perspective on the social history of the church in late antiquity. 606 $aChurch history$yPrimitive and early church, ca. 30-600 606 $aWealth$xReligious aspects$xChristianity$xHistory 607 $aRome$xHistory$yEmpire, 284-476 615 0$aChurch history 615 0$aWealth$xReligious aspects$xChristianity$xHistory. 676 $a270.2 700 $aBrown$b Peter$f1935-$0280211 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910959534103321 996 $aThrough the eye of a needle$91757588 997 $aUNINA