Es una obra monumental, densa, detallista, matizada, académica, especulativa e, innegablemente, histórica, puramente histórica...no hay dimensión ensayística/crítica ni posición política. Se puede afirmar, de hecho, que escamotea esa posibilidad. Tanto, tanto, que resulta hasta sospechosa tanta objetividad de los hechos cuando, al fin y al cabo, trata con retazos y Brown no escatima a la hora de reconstruir especulativamente un marco ideológico que siempre es etéreo.

Por supuesto, no es de extrañar que la hayan considerado merecedora de un Premio Nobel (David Hernández de la Fuente). Sus más de 1000 páginas y una bibliografía exhaustiva lo certifican. Es colosal, sí.

Para todo aquel interesado en la tardoromaneidad y en el cristianismo, está obra no puede ser esquivada. Ahora bien, aunque todavía tengo mucho que digerir, sí que considero que tiene alguna que otra flaqueza:

-¿Por qué no se trata, ni por asomo, qué ocurría con la riqueza de los antiguos templos paganos? ¡Ni un apunte! Tanta densidad y,no obstante, ciertos mutismos incomprensibles acerca de la materialidad de la riqueza...

-¿Por qué no se ha elaborado un opúsculo de 300 páginas? Lo veo perfectamente plausible. Hay tanto movimiento en espiral que puede llegar a marear. A veces casi parece que los pocos ejemplos que disecciona hasta el limite no parecen aclarar la practica e ideología general, sino solo mordiscos. Pero al extenderse tanto, pueden cegar.

-Oriente, el escenario más culto y dinámico de la época no es tratado. Lo justifica al comienzo, pero de nuevo incide en un silenciamiento que no ayuda.

Fantastic. Very thoroughly researched history of how wealth and Christianity intersected during the end of the Roman Empire and the start of the Medieval era.

Double the length it should be.

This is the kind of book for which the word magisterial was intended. I've been reading Brown's work on the late Roman Empire since undergraduate classes, and this is the culmination of immersion in the big ones--Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose as well as the many congregants, faction leaders, bishops, donors and well-educated widows of the imploding Roman world. This book traces the fascinating process by which a church founded on humble poverty came to be an Imperial religion and then a replacement authority over the course of three hundred years in the west. Pre-Christian status through civic service and donations to public games and temples guaranteed fame and Roman honor, which the new Christian ideas of donation to the poor and treasure in the next world significantly questioned. Gradually, as Roman law adjusted so that revocation of wealth took into account relatives, clients and standing obligations, becoming a monk or nun opened up new social and political leverage, especially for women and middling provincial nobles. Eventually, as the empire itself ebbed and the church accumulated property, bishops took on the administrative and authoritative mantle of Roman officials in the west, completing a process of cross-over unimaginable in the early centuries of the faith.

Brown writes in a historical way that is still great to read. I didn't find this book very dry at all and he covers quite a bit of deep history. His examples are great and make the topics easier to understand (not to mention a little more personal).

Short Review: Long, but interesting look at the variety of ways that the church of the Late Roman Empire looked at wealth and how it should be used. Interesting to reflect in the different ways we currently think about wealth. My knowledge of the history of this period is pretty weak. But Brown does take some alternative views from others that I have read. His understanding of Augustine (especially around celibacy and Agustine's desire to turn all clerics into monks) is different from what I read in [b:Augustine: A Very Short Introduction|1703|Augustine A Very Short Introduction |Henry Chadwick|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348207717s/1703.jpg|5827] and some of his history on the rise of the church countered Rodney Stark's [b:The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion|11392050|The Triumph of Christianity How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion|Rodney Stark|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348723369s/11392050.jpg|16324100]. This did not make a huge difference to the main point of the book, but it always does make me pause to realize that I just have to that the author's word on so many things that I can't independently verify. That being said, I think his take on Augustine makes more sense than in the Very Short Introduction and Stark was really taking a pretty broad view and Brown is more of a narrow look.

Click Through for the full review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/through-the-eye-of-a-needle/

Way back when I was in college, and first learning about the history of the Christian church, there was a common refrain I heard: Constantine converted to Christianity, gave the Church privileges and the Church took over. I've read and heard the same thing over the years since. Constantine and his conversion is a sort of bogeyman for all sorts of people, especially those who desire a simplistic understanding of history that confirms their own suspicions (or moral superiority?).

For example, because Constantine endorsed the Trinity, it became doctrine. Except it didn't. In the years after Nicea, the Arians were winning. Constantine's successors (some of them) even favored Arians. The barbarians who conquered the western empire were Arians (and for the record, lest anyone accuse me of hypocrisy, I recognize the barbarians were not as barbaric as we might think and that story too is more complex).

In this book, Peter Brown tells a complex story. The common story of wealth is that once Constantine converted, the churches became rich and privileged. Brown shows that for whatever privilege they got, riches did not immediately follow. It was a much slower process. Further, it was fraught with conflict. Many Christians would have argued that the only thing to do with wealth was to renounce it! How did the church handle its growing wealth? In telling this story, we also read the story of a transition from Late Antiquity into the Early Medieval era.

This is a thorough book. There is so much here. Its not the sort of book for people new to history; you probably want an elementary grasp of the era. The benefit here is that Brown shows that the "western empire" was not monolithic. Things were different, and how wealth was handled by Christians, was different from Rome to Gaul to Carthage. We take for granted that Augustine's theology, and view of wealth, triumphed. But in the background (or even foreground) of his battle with Pelagius was a battle over how to handle wealth.

Augustine's view won out. Brown shows that there was little concern with where the wealth came from. The question for the Christian was how to use the wealth. This echoes down to today as Christians are called to give generously. Until recently, there was not much concern in the Church with where your wealth came from (except for extreme cases). It'd be interesting to read a book, a sort of sequel, for when Christians began to show more concern for how one gets wealth. You don't have to be a Marxist to wonder about human trafficking in the global supply trade. The growing concern for fair trade and fair pay for workers might reveal a shift away from what took route after Augustine.

The other thing sticking in my mind was how the Roman mindset influenced the church. In Roman times not all poor were equal. There were the deserving poor, the people who were citizens of the city. We might call them something similar to middle class today. These were the people who received handouts from the government in Rome. Then there were the lower poor, the ones who might be kicked out of the city of Rome when things got tough. I did not realize there was such a division before, but it does strike me how this plays into how we read ancient sources. Find a text from 200-300 AD that speaks of helping the poor. Who were these poor? We can't take for granted we know exactly who they were speaking of.

Overall, this is a pretty great book for people into history and a Christian worldview.

A well-researched, academic book on the church’s increase in wealth from the time of Constantine to the fall of Rome. Often though, the author is too critical of Christianity by assuming one bad apple represents the whole batch, or he speculates on the church leader’s reasons for making a certain decision. Only recommended for those with a high interest in this time period of history or a church history nerd (like myself.)

Colosal obra y ejemplo perfecto de ensayo con mayúsculas: investigación, erudición, referencias, enseñanza, escritura, amenidad,...; magistral este «Por el ojo de una aguja» de Peter Brown, en la excelente edición de @Acantilado1999.