Ninth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Mainly through the works of historians such as Peter Brown, Robert Markus, Averil Cameron, Ramon Teja and, more recently, Fernandez Ubiña, Mar Marcos, Santiago Castellanos and Claudia Rapp, the increasing episcopal leadership in social, political and cultural affairs on Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages is a well acknowledge and founded historiographical theme. On the last decades, considering that the supposed ‘rise of Christianity’ from the time of Constantine onwards was itself a complex subject worth investigating, scholars have proposed new investigative lines and re-dimensioned their approaches at the light of new documents and thematic scopes. As seen in the works of Pauline Allen, Wendy Mayer, Quirogas Puertas, William Klingshirn, Lisa Bailey, Bernard Green and Bronwen McNeil, preaching was at the core of episcopal activities as it became simultaneously a mean and an expression of its prominence in civic subjects. As a result of the expansion of our doctoral study concluded in 2014, in this presentation we investigate two of the most well-known western preachers from that time: Leo and Caesarius, respectively bishops of Rome and Arles. We are particularly concerned in comparing their sermons directed to the denounce of heretics and their ‘errors’, such as the Manicheans and Arianists. By using the concepts of Pierre Bourdieu´s sociology we evaluate the similarities and difference on their homilies at the light of their own pastoral, liturgical and political efforts.