An account, and assessment, of the career of St Ambrose (339-397), from 374 bishop of Milan and one of the four Doctors of the Christian Church (with Sts. Jerome, Augustine and Gregory the Great). A key figure in the transition of the later Roman Empire into its medieval successor, Western Christendom, Ambrose was deeply involved in the political, social and religious issues of his day: struggles between church and state (especially with Emperor Theodosius), the fight against heresy, but he also had a deep influence on Church thought such as the role and status of women. John Moorhead considers all these dimensions in a book that will be of compelling interest to historians of the Church and the late classical world and classical studies.

Table of Contents:
Editor's Preface and Acknowledgements viii Abbreviations x Introduction 1 CHAPTER 1 Beginnings 15 A new bishop 15 Ambrose 19 Taking office 22 Background and experience 25 The office of bishop 30 Death of a brother 36 CHAPTER 2 Women 40 The two sexes 41 The wife 43 The virgin 51 The senses 54 The body 56 Sweetness tempting men 59 Masculinity 60 Women pleasing themselves 62 Virginity and society 63 Women in private and public 68 CHAPTER 3 The Bible 71 Ambrose's writing on the Bible 72 Ambrose's approach to the Bible 75 Literal interpretation 77 Allegorical interpretation 79 The case of David 82 AMBROSE The Bible 84 Christ in the Bible 86 Two miracles 88 Coming down and going up 92 A parable 94 Ambrose's piety 96 Structural coherence: the case of Shechem 98 Allegory across the centuries 100 CHAPTER 4 Church, State, Heretics and Pagans 102 The success of the church 102 The state 104 The church as female 106 Polemic against anti-Nicaeans III Persecution of anti-Nicaeans 118 Pagans 122 CHAPTER 5 The Bishop and the City 129 Milan, sinful or Christian? 129 A skirmish over churches 132 Martyrdom 134 Easter 386 137 Music and hymns 140 The significance of Easter 143 Controversy with anti-Nicaeans 147 The discovery of relics 150 Ambrose victorious 154 The city and its bishop 156 CHAPTER 6 On Duties 157 The De Officiis 158 The clergy 161 Ambrose and classical thought 164 Neoplatonism 169 Synthesis 177 Conclusion 180 CHAPTER 7 The Elderly Bishop 182 The Jews 182 Callinicum 185 Repression at Thessaloniki 192 Church affairs 196 vi AMBROSE The Bible 84 Christ in the Bible 86 Two miracles 88 Coming down and going up 92 A parable 94 Ambrose's piety 96 Structural coherence: the case of Shechem 98 Allegory across the centuries 100 CHAPTER 4 Church, State, Heretics and Pagans 102 The success of the church 102 The state 104 The church as female 106 Polemic against anti-Nicaeans 111 Persecution of anti-Nicaeans 118 Pagans 122 CHAPTER 5 The Bishop and the City 129 Milan, sinful or Christian? 129 A skirmish over churches 132 Martyrdom 134 Easter 386 137 Music and hymns 140 The significance of Easter 143 Controversy with anti-Nicaeans 147 The discovery of relics 150 Ambrose victorious 154 The city and its bishop 156 CHAPTER 6 On Duties 157 The De Officiis 158 The clergy 161 Ambrose and classical thought 164 Neoplatonism 169 Synthesis 177 Conclusion 180 CHAPTER 7 The Elderly Bishop 182 The Jews 182 Callinicum 185 Repression at Thessaloniki 192 Church affairs 196 The death of Valentinian 197 The death of Theodosius 202 Last years 206 CHAPTER 8 Nachleben 210 Bibliography 219 Map: The late Roman world of Ambrose 228 Index