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Cornell University Press - Éric Rebillard ,
traduit par Trapnell Rawlings Elizabeth , Jeanine Routier-Pucci

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In this provocative book Eric Rebillard challenges many long-held assumptions about early Christian burial customs. For decades scholars of early Christianity have argued that the Church owned and operated burial grounds for Christians as early as the third century. Through a careful reading of primary sources including legal codes, theological works, epigraphical inscriptions, and sermons, Rebillard shows that there is little evidence to suggest that Christians occupied exclusive or isolated burial grounds in this early period.In fact, as late as the fourth and fifth centuries the Church did not impose on the faithful specific rituals for laying the dead to rest. In the preparation of Christians for burial, it was usually next of kin and not representatives of the Church who were responsible for what form of rite would be celebrated, and evidence from inscriptions and tombstones shows that for the most part Christians didn't separate themselves from non-Christians when burying their dead. According to Rebillard it would not be until the early Middle Ages that the Church gained control over burial practices and that "Christian cemeteries" became common.In this translation of Religion et Sepulture: L'eglise, les vivants et les morts dans l'Antiquite tardive, Rebillard fundamentally changes our understanding of early Christianity. The Care of the Dead in Late Antiquity will force scholars of the period to rethink their assumptions about early Christians as separate from their pagan contemporaries in daily life and ritual practice.

Sujets

Ancient World

Philosophie et théologie

Christian worship

Ancient Rome

Christian Church

Classical antiquity

Ancient history

History of religions

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Publié par	Cornell University Press
Date de parution	15 décembre 2010
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780801459160
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,7500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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q THE CARE OF THE DEADIN LATE ANTIQUITY

A VOLUME IN THE SERIES Cornell Studies in Classical Philology

Edited by Frederick M. Ahl, Theodore R. Brennan, Charles F. Brittain, Kevin M. Clinton, Gail J. Fine, David P. Mankin, Sturt W. Manning, Alan J. Nussbaum, Hayden N. Pelliccia, Pietro Pucci, Hunter R. Rawlings III, Éric Rebillard, Jeffrey S. Rusten, Barry S. Strauss

VOLUME LIX The Care of the Dead in Late Antiquity

By Éric Rebillard

A list of titles in this series is available at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

THE CARE OF THE DEAD IN LATE ANTIQUITY n É r i c R e b i l l a r d Translated by Elizabeth Trapnell Rawlingsand Jeanine RoutierPucci

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS Ithaca and London

Originally published under the titleReligion et sépulture: L’Église, les vivants et les morts dans l’Antiquité tardive,by Éric Rebillard. © 2003, Éditions de l’École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris.

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the pub lisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850.

First published 2009 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2012

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Rebillard, Éric. [Religion et sépulture. English] The care of the dead in late antiquity / Éric Rebillard ; translated by Elizabeth Trapnell Rawlings and Jeanine RoutierPucci. p. cm. — (Cornell studies in classical philology ; v. 59) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 9780801446771 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN 9780801477959 (paper : alk. paper) 1. Death—Religious aspects—Christianity. 2. Funeral rites and ceremonies, Ancient—Rome—Religious aspects. 3. Funeral rites and ceremonies, Ancient—Religious aspects. I. Title. II. Series: Cornell studies in classical philology ; v. 59. BT826.R4313 2009 265'.850937—dc22 2008052547

Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetablebased, lowVOC inks and acidfree papers that are recycled, totally chlorinefree, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu.

Cloth printing Paperback printing

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

q Co nt e nt s

Abbreviations vii Introduction ix

1. The Problem of the Origins: Christian Burial in Rome and Carthage 2. Burial and Religious Identity: Religious Groups and Collective Burial 3. Voluntary Associations and Collective Burial: The Church, Christians, and the Collegia 4. Violation of Tombs and Impiety: Funerary Practices and Religious Beliefs 5. Christian Piety and Burial Duty: From the Duty to Bury the Dead to the Organization of Burial for the Poor 6. Christian Funerals and Funerals of Christians: The Church and the Death Ritual in Late Antiquity 7. The Church, Christians, and the Dead: Commemoration of the Dead in Late Antiquity Conclusion

Primary Sources 179 Secondary Sources 191 Index 213

123

140 176

CIL CPG PG ICVR ILCV

PIR CJ

q A b b r e v i at i o n s

Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum.Berlin, 1862–. Clavis Patrum Graecorum.Edited by M. Geerard. Turnhout, 1983–. Patrologia Graeca.JacquesPaul Migne. Paris.Edited by Inscriptiones Christianae urbis Romae.Rome, 1922–. Inscriptiones latinae Christianae veteres.Edited by Ernst Diehl. Berlin, 1961. Prosopographia Imperii Romani Saeculi I, II, III.Berlin, 1933–. Iuris Civilis.Codex Justinianus.Corpus Vol. 2. Edited by Paul Krueger. Berlin, 1954.

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q I nt r o d u c t i o n

This book’s title,The Care of the Dead in Late Antiquity,is directly inspired by the title of a treatise Augustine wrote toward 1 the end of his life. His friend Paulinus of Nola had asked him about the utility for salvation of being buried next to a martyr. It was a difficult ques tion and Augustine offered a carefully balanced answer: burial, whether or not next to a martyr’s tomb, is not relevant to salvation and therefore would not matter from a Christian point of view were men not attached to the idea. In this text and a few others, Augustine elaborated a clear distinction between what is relevant for salvation and to be taken care of by the ecclesiastical institution, and what is not relevant for salvation and is left to the care of the family. We will get a better and more nuanced understanding of what is at stake in Augustine’s treatise, but for now this brief presentation suffices to introduce the main topic of this book: the role the bishops claimed to play in the relations between the living and the dead in Late Antiquity. In hisTod und ritual in den christlichen Gemeinden des Antike,Ulrich Volp provides a good summary of the scholarly consensus on this topic:

The universal and totalizing claim that Christianity exercised on the life of the believers was not compatible with leaving death, burial and the commemoration of the dead simply to the families and profes sional undertakers. The holy Christian texts demanded intervention in this sphere—given, for example, the centrality of the resurrection in the New Testament! Both the functions of the traditional “family religion” and those of the public cults were taken over by Christianity, at least from the fourth century onward, despite not having resources and personnel on a medieval scale (which is why religious funerals, and regular masses for the departed became common practice everywhere 2 only later).

1. I must here thank Peter Brown for suggesting it; see chapter 4 for more on this important text. 2. Ulrich Volp,Tod und ritual in den christlichen Gemeinden des Antike,Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 65 (Leiden: Brill, 2002), 270 (English summary).

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Care of the Dead in Late Antiquity , livre ebook

Ancient World

Philosophie et théologie

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Christian Church

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Ancient history

History of religions

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