Ambrose of Milan Church and Court in a Christian Capital [Hardcover]

In this new and illuminating interpretation of Ambrose, bishop of Milan from 374 to 397, Neil McLynn thoroughly sifts the evidence surrounding this very difficult personality. The result is a richly detailed interpretation of Ambrose's actions and writings that penetrates the bishop's painstaking presentation of self. McLynn succeeds in revealing Ambrose's manipulation of events without making him too Machiavellian. Having synthesized the vast complex of scholarship available on the late fourth century, McLynn also presents an impressive study of the politics and history of the Christian church and the Roman Empire in that period.

Admirably and logically organized, the book traces the chronology of Ambrose's public activity and reconstructs important events in the fourth century. McLynn's zesty, lucid prose gives the reader a clear understanding of the complexities of Ambrose's life and career and of late Roman government.

Neil McLynnis Visiting Lecturer in the Faculty of Law, Keio University, Japan. He was trained in the classics at Oxford.

List of Figures
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Introduction

Chapter 1. The Reluctant Bishop
Chapter 2. Consolidation
Chapter 3. Ambrose and Gratian
Chapter 4. Persecution
Chapter 5. Ambrose's People, I: Master of Ceremonies
Chapter 6. Ambrose's People, II: Friends and Influence
Chapter 7. Ambrose and Theodosius
Chapter 8. Sanctity

Bibliography
Index

This is an important book, for it deals with Ambrose's public career very thoroughly . . . something we have long been waiting for . . . a hard-headed account, keeping well clear of either hagiography or denigration, presenting many of the central episodes of Ambrose's career in an entirely new light. Robert Markus

Ambrose of Milan has long needed the modern biography which Neil McLynn has now written. Here is a learned and thorough wl3©