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Bronwen Neil and Pauline Allen The Letters of Gelasius I (492-496): Pastor and Micro-Manager of the Church of Rome Adnotationes: Commentaries on Early Christian and Patristic Texts Turnhout: Brepols, 2014 Pp. XIII + 252. euro65.00.
Gelasius is best known for (1) his articulation of a distinction between imperial and ecclesiastical authority, (2) his role in the Acacian Schism, (3) his contributions to canon law, and (4) his Letter Against Andromachus. Most commonly, Gelasius figures in histories of the development of the theory of papal authority. The present volume, an extended introduction and a collection of 41 letters (forty percent of the extant letters), offers a number of Gelasius's greatest hits in an expanded epistolary playlist that demonstrates his broader and more mundane exercise of power. Neil and Allen characterize these more practical interventions as micro-management, which seemingly casts them as inappropriate or overbearing, even though, as Neil and Allen acknowledge, hands-on involvement in quotidian and even domestic affairs was essential in the construction of episcopal authority. Bishops developed and extended their power by acting as arbiters, patrons, and emergency caregivers, in addition to their more "pastoral" duties, as this collection makes clear.
Like The Early Church Fathers series from Routledge, this volume comprises an informative introduction (Part One) followed by Gelasius's letters arranged topically (Part Two). Part One begins with a short biography of Gelasius, an elite likely born in Rome to North African parents, about whom little can be gleaned. The introduction then addresses Gelasius's...