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.

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