In this chapter, I turn from the age of Tertullian forward a century to the rise of the monastic movement and the world of St Antony the Great and the Desert Fathers of Egypt. What is it that makes a monk? What characterises the spirituality of the desert? What does singlemindedness look like? How are we meant to read the "Sayings" of the Desert Fathers?

My course on monasticism: https://davenanthall.com/course/monasticism-anthony-reformation/

Bibliography

The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection. Trans. Benedicta Ward. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1975.

Athanasius of Alexandria. The Life of Antony: The Coptic Life and the Greek Life. Trans. Tim Vivian and Apostolos N. Athanassakis. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2003.

Carolinne M. White. Early Christian Lives. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1998.

Guigo II le Chartreuse. The Ladder of Monks. Trans. James Walsh. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1981.

All Liturgical Press titles in this list are originally Kalamazoo: Cistercian Press if you buy older printings.

In today's episode/"chapter", I discuss early Christian worship and the spaces where Christians met, keeping in mind the theological reality of the assembly of saints (ekklesia) as an encounter with heaven.

I also plug my upcoming course "Early Christian Worship: Ritual and Space in the Ancient Church".

Check out the ninth-century Church of Santa Prassede here.

Check out La Sainte-Chapelle, Paris here.

Check out the third-century remains of Dura Europos here.

The only book I mention in this episode is Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines.

In this episode, I consider the character of Tertullian of Carthage (c. 155/60 - after 220). Accused of being a Montanist by later writers, Tertullian was the father of Latin Christianity, even referred to as "the Master" by St Cyprian. After considering his relationship to Montanism, I discuss some of my favourite passages from his treatise "On Prayer" and commend him for the church today.

Register here for my upcoming course on Early Christian Worship!

My translation:

Tertullian, Cyprian, & Origen. On the Lord's Prayer. Trans. Alistair Stewart-Sykes. SVS Press, 2004.

This week, I discuss the movement called Montanism, one of the roads not taken by the Great Church in the second century. How does the Holy Spirit speak in the church after the New Testament? What does it look like? How does one discern such affairs? Is this a taming of the church? What does prophecy do next?

I also briefly plug my upcoming Davenant Hall course, "Early Christian Worship: Ritual and Space in the Ancient Church," you can register here!

Bibliography

Eusebius, The History of the Church. Trans. G. A. Williamson, ed. Andrew Louth.

McGuckin, John A. The Path of Christianity: The First 1000 Years.

Coakley, Sarah. God, Sexuality, and the Self: An Essay on the Trinity.

Registration for "Constantine and the Conversion of the Roman Empire" closes on Friday. Sign up while you can! Enjoy me talking about Constantine's big, giant head in the meantime.

 https://davenanthall.com/product/constantine-conversion/#

I recorded this a week and a half ago! In this video, I look at what the idea of the imperial Adventus/arrival at a city means, drawing on Ammianus Marcellinus' Res Gestae from c. 381, and then the theological use of the analogy by St Athanasius' On the Incarnation from the early 330s. Hopefully it will help you observe a blessed Advent this year!

Ammianus Marcellinus. Res Gestae. Translated (and abridged) as The Later Roman Empire by Walter Hamilton. Penguin Classics.

Athanasius. On the Incarnation. Translated by John Behr with an introduction by C S Lewis. SVS Press, Popular Patristics Series 2011.

For even more on the Adventus, check out Sabine G. MacCormack, Art and Ceremony in Late Antiquity. University of California Press, 1992.

I return to Constantine for this week's chapter since registration is still open for my upcoming course "Constantine and the Conversion of the Roman Empire," starting in January. This week, rather than attempting to assess his impact, I look at the man himself. What does his pietas look like? What does it mean for the emperor himself to be a Christian?

Sign up for the course here: https://davenanthall.com/product/constantine-conversion/

The sources from today's chapter:

Eusebius. Life of Constantine. Trans. with intro and commentary by Averil Cameron and Stuart G. Hall. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999.

Eusebius. The History of the Church. Trans. G. A. Williamson. Ed with intro by Andrew Louth. Penguin Classics.

In January I'll be teaching "Constantine and the Conversion of the Roman Empire" for Davenant Hall. In preparation for that, I share some musings about the ramifications of the "Constantinian settlement" for the church in Late Antiquity here today. To sign up for the course, follow this link:

https://davenanthall.com/product/constantine-conversion/