Contextualizing Cassian: Aristocrats, Asceticism, and Reformation in Fifth-Century Gaul(Oxford Early Christian Studies)

Series: Oxford Early Christian Studies

Richard J. Goodrich examines the attempt by the fifth-century ascetic writer John Cassian to influence and shape the development of Western monasticism. Goodrich's close analysis of Cassian's earliest work (The Institutes) focuses on his interaction with the values and preconceptions of a traditional Roman elite, as well as his engagement with contemporary writers. By placing The Institutes in con