Through the eye of a needle : wealth, the fall of Rome, and the making of Christianity in the West, 350-550 AD / Peter Brown.

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2012], ©2012.

xxx, 759 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 25 cm

Includes bibliographical references (pages 641-717) and index.

Aurea aetas : wealth in an age of gold -- Mediocritas : the social profile of the Latin Church, 312-ca. 370 -- Amor civicus = love of the city : wealth and its uses in an ancient world -- "Treasure in heaven" : wealth in the Christian church -- Symmachus : being noble in fourth-century Rome -- Avidus civicae gratiae = greedy for the good favor of the city : Symmachus and the people of Rome ; Ambrose and his people -- "Avarice, the root of all evil" : Ambrose and Northern Italy -- Augustine : spes saeculi : careerism, patronage, and religious bonding, 354-384 -- From Milan to Hippo : Augustine and the making of a religious community, 384-396 -- "The life in common of a kind of divine and heavenly republic" : Augustine on public and private in a monastic community -- Ista vero saecularia = those things, indeed, of the world : Ausonius, villas, and the language of wealth -- Ex opulentissimo divite = From being rich as rich can be : Paulinus of Nola and the renunciation of wealth, 389-395 -- Commercium spirituale = The spiritual exchange : Paulinus of Nola and the poetry of wealth, 395-408 -- Propter magnificentiam urbis Romae = by reason of the magnificence of the city of Rome : the Roman rich and their clergy, from Constantine to Damasus, 312-384 -- "To sing the Lord's song in a strange land" : Jerome in Rome, 382-385 -- Between Rome and Jerusalem : women, patronage, and learning, 385-412 -- "The eye of a needle" and "the treasure of the soul" : renunciation, nobility, and the Sack of Rome, 405-413 -- Tolle divitem = Take away the rich : the Pelagian criticism of wealth -- Augustine's Africa : people and church -- "Dialogues with the crowd" : the rich, the people, and the city in the sermons of Augustine -- Dimitte nobis debita nostra = forgive us our sins : Augustine, wealth, and Pelagianism, 411-417 -- "Out of Africa" : wealth, power, and the churches, 415-430 -- "Still at that time a more affluent empire" : the crisis of the West in the fifth century -- Among the saints : Marseilles, Arles, and Lérins, 400-440 -- Romana respublica vel iam mortua = With the empire now dead and gone : Salvian and his Gaul, 420-450 -- Ob Italiae securitatem = For the security of Italy : Rome and Italy, ca. 430-ca. 530 -- Patrimonia pauperum = patrimonies of the poor : wealth and conflict in the churches of the sixth century -- Servator fidei, patriaeque semper amator = guardian of the faith, and always lover of (his) homeland : wealth and piety in the sixth century.

pt. 1. Wealth, Christianity, and giving at the end of an ancient world -- Aurea aetas : wealth in an age of gold ; Mediocritas : the social profile of the Latin Church, 312-ca. 370 ; Amor civicus = Love of the city : wealth and its uses in an ancient world ; "Treasure in heaven" : wealth in the Christian church -- pt. 2. An age of affluence -- Symmachus : being noble in fourth-century Rome ; Avidus civicae gratiae = Greedy for the good favor of the city : Symmachus and the people of Rome ; Ambrose and his people ; "Avarice, the root of all evil" : Ambrose and Northern Italy ; Augustine : spes saeculi : careerism, patronage, and religious bonding, 354-384 ; From Milan to Hippo : Augustine and the making of a religious community, 384-396 ; "The life in common of a kind of divine and heavenly republic" : Augustine on public and private in a monastic community ; Ista vero saecularia = Those things, indeed, of the world : Ausonius, villas, and the language of wealth ; Ex opulentissimo divite = From being rich as rich can be : Paulinus of Nola and the renunciation of wealth, 389-395 ; Commercium spirituale = The spiritual exchange : Paulinus of Nola and the poetry of wealth, 395-408 ; Propter magnificentiam urbis Romae = By reason of the magnificence of the city of Rome : the Roman rich and their clergy, from Constantine to Damasus, 312-384 ; "To sing the Lord's song in a strange land" : Jerome in Rome, 382-385 ; Between Rome and Jerusalem : women, patronage, and learning, 385-412 -- pt. 3. An age of crisis -- "The eye of a needle" and "the treasure of the soul" : renunciation, nobility, and the Sack of Rome, 405-413 ; Tolle divitem = Take away the rich : the Pelagian criticism of wealth ; Augustine's Africa : people and church ; "Dialogues with the crowd" : the rich, the people, and the city in the sermons of Augustine ; "Dimitte nobis debita nostra" = Forgive us our sins : Augustine, wealth, and Pelagianism, 411-417 ; "Out of Africa" : wealth, power, and the churches, 415-430 ; "Still at that time a more affluent empire" : the crisis of the West in the fifth century -- pt. 4. Aftermaths -- Among the saints : Marseilles, Arles, and Lérins, 400-440 ; Romana respublica vel iam mortua = With the empire now dead and gone : Salvian and his Gaul, 420-450 ; Ob Italiae securitatem = For the security of Italy : Rome and Italy, ca. 430-ca. 530 -- pt. 5. Toward another world -- Patrimonia pauperum = Patrimonies of the poor : wealth and conflict in the churches of the sixth century ; Servator fidei, patriaeque semper amator = Guardian of the Faith, and always lover of (his) homeland : wealth and piety in the sixth century.