The Rich and the Pure

"This book is a game-changer and will set the direction of everything that will come thereafter--and all the while it reads like a novel. I could not put it down!"--Susanna Elm, Sidney H. Ehrman Professor of History and Classics, Department of History, University of California, Berkeley "The result of decades of meticulous research across a vast array of sources, including archaeology, The Rich and the Pure offers new and nuanced perspectives on Christian attitudes toward wealth--its possession, and its circulation--against the very concrete background of the societal developments in the Eastern Mediterranean from the fourth to the seventh century."--Claudia Rapp, University of Vienna and Austrian Academy of Sciences "For now, and for any foreseeable time to come, this will be 'the' book on the roots of Christian wealth and charity. I expect it will be hailed as an instant classic."--Hal Drake, University of California, Santa Barbara