Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
ORTHODOXY AND HERESY
1. "The Evil in Our Bosom": Eunomius as a Cappadocian Father
CONVERSION
2. "Even Though Roman Laws Judge Differently": Christianity and Local Traditions
3. Remembering the Future: Christian Narratives of Conversion
4. "Everything in Ruins": Ancient Legends and Foundation Myths
5. The Founder of the Cappadocians
PREACHERS AND AUDIENCES
6. Listening to the Audience: The Six Days of Creation
7. Small Details: The Cult of the Forty Martyrs
THE LIFE TO COME
8. "I Saw a Parrot": Philostorgius at Constantinople
9. A Blank Sheet of Paper: The Apocryphal Basil
10. "Trail of Sorrows": The Autobiographies of Gregory of Nazianzus
Epilogue: A Different Late Antiquity
Abbreviations
Notes
Editions and Translations
1. The Cappadocian Fathers
2. Ancient Authors and Texts
Bibliography

Promotional Information

Raymond Van Dam investigates the transformation of Cappadocia, a Roman province in central Asia Minor, into a Christian society. Through vivid accounts of Cappadocians as preachers, theologians, and historians, Becoming Christian highlights the disruptive social and cultural consequences of the formation of new orthodoxies in theology, history, language, and personal identity in the ancient world.

About the Author

Raymond Van Dam is Professor of History at the University of Michigan and author of the companion volumes Kingdom of Snow: Roman Rule and Greek Culture in Cappadocia and Families and Friends in Late Roman Cappadocia, both also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.