The Cultural Turn in Late Ancient Studies

“[A]n excellent collection of essays on Late Antique Christianity. . . . [T]his book is a must read for serious scholars of Late Antiquity, especially because the essays both explain and apply the method of cultural studies.” - Matthew Kraus, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

“[S]hed[s] further light on the processes by which Christianity constructed itself throughout the later Roman empire, and, perhaps most importantly, counsel against viewing any text, image, or even role within the Church as a fixed or static concept.” - Aideen M. Hartney, Journal of Theolgical Studies

“Sixteen sharp and compelling cultural historical studies. . . . Each of these essays is excellent, well-written, and impeccably annotated, and together they comprise a dazzling foray into the thriving field of late ancient cultural studies.” - Andrew S. Jacobs, Journal of the American Academy of Religion

“[T]here is much to admire in The Cultural Turn, from its balance of literary and historical readings of the past to its disciplinary range and theoretical creativity.” - Lynda L. Coon, Catholic Historical Review

“The volume gives a good picture of some of the best of scholarship that is indebted to the ‘cultural turn in late ancient studies’.” - Andrew Louth, Theology and Sexuality

“This collection of sixteen articles … represents cutting edge scholarship by some of the most prominent researchers in the study of antiquity.” - David M. Reis, Religious Studies Review

“This learned and sophisticated collection of essays takes a self-consciously theoretical approach.” - Loveday Alexander, Journal for the Study of the New Testament

“This thought-provoking collection contains a valuable bibliography and suits a wide audience.” - Dilys N. Patterson, Studies in Religion

“The essays in The Cultural Turn in Late Ancient Studies are all significant in their own rights, and collectively they provide an excellent portrait of the ‘state of the art.’ This book both charts the history of a generation of scholarship and points forward toward the next steps in the critical, theoretically inflected engagement with the cultural world of late antiquity.” - Elizabeth Castelli, Associate Professor of Religion at Barnard College and author of Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture Making

“This collection’s foci—gender, asceticism, and historiography—outline the very engines of the cultural turn in the discipline and show early Christian studies at its most engaged with current trends throughout the humanities.” - Derek Krueger, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and author of Writing and Holiness: The Practice of Authorship in the Early Christian East