Hellenic Religion and Christianization c. 370-529 by Frank R. Trombley

Abstract

BOOK REVIEWS633 Hellenic Religion and Christianization c. 370-529- By Frank R. Trombley. 2 vols. [Religions in the Graeco-Roman World, Volumes 115/1 and 115/2.] (Leiden: E. J. Brill. 1993, 1994. Pp. xiv, 344; xvi, 430. »100.00; »1 14.50.) The study of paganism in Late Antiquity has become something of an industry in recent years, with books by Fox, Bowersock, Brown, and Fowden, and many important articles. Frank Trombley's book may well be the best of them all, and in any case its arguments and point of view will have to be considered in any serious discussion of religion in this period, whether concerned with paganism or Christianity. This two-volume work is in many ways a treasure for scholars to come, and it will certainly be a mine of information for all. The first volume contains a general overview of late paganism and the Christianization, with detailed case studies ofthe situation in Gaza and Adiens, where the literary sources are relatively full. The second volume is based much more on epigraphic evidence, and itfocuses further on ruralphenomena, although it also takes a case-study approach that is required by different situations in the various parts of the eastern Mediterranean. Appendices are used for detailed discussion of particularly difficult problems. The book as a whole is idiosyncratic and individual: Trombley has his point of view, and he lets the reader know clearly what he thinks. Nonetheless, its value is old-fashioned and solid: Trombley knows the sources like few before him; he is completely at home in hagiography (Syriac as well as Greek and Latin), epigraphy, archaeology, and the voluminous theological literature of the period. He has read the sources through carefully, and even those who disagree with him will benefit from his commentary on the texts. To make a complex thesis simple, Trombley argues that paganism was not a moribund religious system in Late Antiquity, but rather it still had much that appealed to people of the Mediterranean basin. The fact that Christianity ultimately triumphed was not due to the inherent superiority of the new religion but to the cleverness of its leaders (the bishops) and to their ability to use a combination of state control and pragmatic accommodation in the winning of souls. He realizes that the modern distinction between secular and spiritual society was not valid in this period, and he accepts as dominant the role of demons, holy men, and—generally—the miraculous. Trombley brings to his research aprinciple that has not always characterized research on this period: he takes his sources at their word and assumes that the authors meant what they said. He seeks to probe into the religious sensibilities of people in this complex period when paganism and Christianity both stood apart from each other and merged together. He is fully aware of the ambiguities of this transformation and he seeks to interpret it in ways that are understandable to the modern reader. Given a view as broad as this, there are bound to be criticisms. These will surely fall into two camps: those who fail to understand what Trombley is trying to do and those who admit that in the breadth of such an attempt there are bound to be points that can be questioned. It would be easy for a reviewer, 634BOOK REVIEWS with specialized knowledge of individual texts or archaeological sites, to point out areas where the author oversteps or perhaps misunderstands the evidence. Thus, it is odd diat he says that "not one of the early Christian basilicas built next to great shrines . . . survives___" (I, 118): but they do, at least enough to allow a study of "local basilica construction." Yet, Trombley is right in the larger sense, since no one has in fact done such a study. One thinks, on occasion, that the introduction of the ideas of Eliade, etc. (e.g., I, 149) may be a little "after the fact," but one has to praise Trombley for making the attempt and for realizing that such concepts have a place in the study of Late Antiquity, and we had better start to consider them! In short, the best review of the present book...