In this collection, Guy Strousma briefly exponds on five aspects of the great spiritual metamorphosis of Late Antiquity: 1) the increasing interiority of spiritual practice; 2) the rise of the written word as a vessel of religious meaning as embodied in the invention of the codex; 3) the transformation of sacrifice from a replicated public rite to a single event manifested in the purity of the sage or in person of Christ; 4) the change from civic-based to community-based worship; and 5) the role of the teacher from the paid, indifferent, and elitist philosopher to the unpaid, impassioned, and accessible saint (he notes that both pagan and Christian priests are more concerned with rites than with people).

What's fascinating here for a student of the era is the emphasis on Judaism as a precursor to these changes due to the radical alterations imposed by the destruction of the Second Temple, the suggestion that paganism had already evolved into a monotheistic faith prior to the rise of Christianity, and the idea that transformation happened within individuals as often as it did across individuals. With respect to sacrifice, Strousma shows that it had largely died out within pagan culture before the establishment of Christianity under Constantine. This is part of his broader critique, which is based on transformations arising internally in paganism, Judaism, and Christianity.

This book, based on a series of lectures, is more evocative than demonstrative. It confirms the incredible richness of thought that arose in the eastern Mediterranean during this tumultuous era. ( )