City of Demons Violence, Ritual, and Christian Power in Late Antiquity [Hardcover]

Although it would appear in studies of late antique ecclesiastical authority and power that scholars have covered everything, an important aspect of the urban bishop has long been neglected: his role as demonologist and exorcist. When the emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the realm, bishops and priests everywhere struggled? to Christianize the urban spaces still dominated by Greco-Roman monuments and festivals. During this period of upheaval, when congregants seemingly attended everything but their own orthodox church, many ecclesiastical leaders began simultaneously to promote aggressive and insidious depictions of the demonic. InCity of Demons,Dayna S. Kalleres investigates this developing discourse and the church-sponsored rituals that went along with it, showing how shifting ecclesiastical demonologies and evolving practices of exorcism profoundly shaped Christian life in the fourth century.

Dayna S. Kalleresis Assistant Professor of Early Christianity at the University of California, San Diego.

Acknowledgments
Introduction. The City in Late Antiquity: Where Have All the Demons Gone?

PART ONE. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM AND ANTIOCH
1. A City of Religious Pluralism and Spiritual Ambiguity
2. The Devil Is in the Ritual
3. The Spectacle of Exorcism

PART TWO. CYRIL AND JERUSALEM
4. Jerusalem to Aelia, Aelia to Jerusalem: Monumental Transformations
5. The Devil in the Word, the Demons in the Image
6. Apocalyptic Prophets and the Cross: Revealing Jerusalems Demons from the Crucifixion to the End of Days

PART THREE. AMBROSE AND MILAN
7. Ambrose and Nicene Demoniacs: Charismatic Christianity inside?and outside Milan

Abbreviations
Notes
Ancient Language Editions by Series
Translations of Ancient Sources
Selected Bibliography
Index

“InCity of DemonsDayna Kalleres jolts readers out lCP