Bishop of Cyrrhus. Theodoret - Theodorets people: social networks and religious conflict in late Roman Syria

This book is about the relationship between what people claim to believe and whom they know. Partly it concerns the history of religions, especially an epic doctrinal dispute known as the Christological controversy. Partly it concerns late Roman social relations, especially in Greater Syria, also known as the Roman East. Different sections of this book feature prosopography, historiography, socio-historical survey, micro-historical narrative, theological analysis, and literary interpretation. My goal is to combine these various methods, with the aid of contemporary social theory, to better explain the social behavior that fostered religious communities in conflict.

My study of late Roman religious conflict has now lasted ten years. It began with a dissertation at the University of Michigan, which took form thanks to the generous financial support of the Mellon Foundation, the History Department, and the Rackham School of Graduate Studies. Some of the material in appeared in a different form as Schor, Adam M., Patronage Performance and Social Strategy in the Letters of Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus, Journal of Late Antiquity 2:2 (2009), 27499, 2009 The Johns Hopkins University Press. It is reprinted with permission of The Johns Hopkins University Press.

With regards to this book, I offer my deep gratitude to the members of my dissertation committee, Ray Van Dam, John V. Fine, Jr., Traianos Gagos (now, alas, of blessed memory), and Susan Ashbrook Harvey. Their extensive comments on my thesis and manuscript have proven immeasurably helpful. I also thank other scholars who have commented on drafts of this book in full or in part: Peter Brown, David Olster, David Brakke, Ralph Mathisen, and Patrick Gray, as well as Stephanie Fay and Eric Schmidt at the University of California Press and four perceptive anonymous reviewers. Additional thanks go to Kevin Van Bladel for tutorial help with Syriac, and to George Bevan, Patrick Gray, Pauline Allen, Yannis Papadoyannakis, David Michelson, and Ray Van Dam for showing me early versions of their work on related topics. And let me thank Tara Thompson Stauch for her assistance with proofreading and indexing.

Finally, let me offer my heartfelt thanks to members of my family, my parents Robert and Deborah, my brother Ben, my son Micah (who is much younger than this tome) and my wife Leah. Their companionship, patience, intellectual conversation, and affection have grounded me as I exhume the textual remains of people more than 1500 years gone. For love is stronger than deathit is a blazing flame (Song of Songs 8:6).

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

ANCIENT TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS

This list includes documents used for network analysis in but not otherwise cited.

Acta concilii Chalcedonensis. Text (Greek and Latin): ACO II.12; translation: The Acts of the Council of Chalcedon, 3 vols., translated by R. M. Price and J. M. Gaddis (Liverpool, 2005).

Acta concilii Ephesini. Text (Greek): ACO I.1.2: 364, I.1.3: 1526, 5363, I.1.7: 84117.

Acta concilii oecumenicae CPolis ii. Text (Latin): ACO IV.1.

Acta et sententia synodi Orientalium (CPG #6352). Text (Greek): ACO I.1.5: 11924; text (Latin translation of Rusticus): ACO I.4: 3338.

Canons of the Catholic Church.