“A wonderfully fresh look at the early Christian councils. . . . Both scholar and lay reader will find this volume a treasure trove to be savored and enjoyed.”—Gaye Strathearn, BYU Studies

“Read this book for the author’s insight into the practical mechanics through which consensus emerged from church councils and the bottom-up view of their proceedings. For students of early Christianity it is a valuable complement to previous scholarly treatments that focused exclusively on well-known ecclesiastical personalities and separated the study of theology from the messy entanglements of late antique civic life.”—Jennifer L. Hevelone-Harper, The Historian

“If C-SPAN had been broadcasting in the late antique period, Ramsay MacMullen would be the chief color commentator. . . . Here, one finds deep reading, learning, and study. But it is not worn heavily on the sleeves of this academic’s gown. Instead, what we have is a highly readable extended essay that is almost conversational but never loses its gravitas.”—Christopher M. Bellitto, Logos: A Journal of Eastern Christian Studies

Recipient of a Lifetime Award for Scholarly Distinction from the American Historical Association

“Ramsay MacMullen has written another provocative and highly original book. He shows how Christian doctrine came to be decided by the democratic votes of bishops, and how the passions that this aroused all too often led to actual violence.”—Averil Cameron, Keble College, Oxford University

“In MacMullen’s highly original book we get a sense of what it was like to be at an early church council, how arguments ebbed and flowed, how power was wielded, how participants were intimidated and inspired.”—David Brakke, Indiana University

“By fine literary detective work, MacMullen reassembles the mobs of bishops who debated, voted, and rioted in the fifteen thousand or so early church councils, tracing the progress of Christianity from a raucous democracy to a harnessed hierarchy.”—Garry Wills, Northwestern University

“Bloodthirsty bishops raining curses on their enemies storm through these pages, then step aside, humbled, allowing MacMullen’s cool, sane, and immensely learned analysis to enrich our understanding of the making and fragmenting of Roman imperial Christianity.”—James J. O’Donnell, author of Augustine: A New Biography