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oapen-20.500.12657-460372024-01-08T13:49:28Z Christianity, Book-Burning and Censorship in Late Antiquity Rohmann, Dirk Religion Christian Church History Technology & Engineering Agriculture bic Book Industry Communication::H Humanities::HR Religion & beliefs::HRC Christianity::HRCC Christian Churches & denominations bic Book Industry Communication::T Technology, engineering, agriculture::TV Agriculture & farming It is estimated that only a small fraction, less than 1 per cent, of ancient literature has survived to the present day. The role of Christian authorities in the active suppression and destruction of books in Late Antiquity has received surprisingly little sustained consideration by academics. In an approach that presents evidence for the role played by Christian institutions, writers and saints, this book analyses a broad range of literary and legal sources, some of which have hitherto been little studied. Paying special attention to the problem of which genres and book types were likely to be targeted, the author argues that in addition to heretical, magical, astrological and anti-Christian books, other less obviously subversive categories of literature were also vulnerable to destruction, censorship or suppression through prohibition of the copying of manuscripts. These include texts from materialistic philosophical traditions, texts which were to become the basis for modern philosophy and science. This book examines how Christian authorities, theologians and ideologues suppressed ancient texts and associated ideas at a time of fundamental transformation in the late classical world. 2021-01-12T04:32:10Z 2021-01-12T04:32:10Z 2016 book 9783110485554 9783110484458 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/46037 eng application/pdf Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International external_content.pdf De Gruyter De Gruyter 10.1515/9783110399844 10.1515/9783110399844 2b386f62-fc18-4108-bcf1-ade3ed4cf2f3 b818ba9d-2dd9-4fd7-a364-7f305aef7ee9 9783110485554 9783110484458 Knowledge Unlatched (KU) De Gruyter Knowledge Unlatched open access
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It is estimated that only a small fraction, less than 1 per cent, of ancient literature has survived to the present day. The role of Christian authorities in the active suppression and destruction of books in Late Antiquity has received surprisingly little sustained consideration by academics. In an approach that presents evidence for the role played by Christian institutions, writers and saints, this book analyses a broad range of literary and legal sources, some of which have hitherto been little studied. Paying special attention to the problem of which genres and book types were likely to be targeted, the author argues that in addition to heretical, magical, astrological and anti-Christian books, other less obviously subversive categories of literature were also vulnerable to destruction, censorship or suppression through prohibition of the copying of manuscripts. These include texts from materialistic philosophical traditions, texts which were to become the basis for modern philosophy and science. This book examines how Christian authorities, theologians and ideologues suppressed ancient texts and associated ideas at a time of fundamental transformation in the late classical world.
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