Ambrose of Milan and the End of the Arian-Nicene Conflicts by Daniel H. Williams (review)

book reviews295 In this large and dUfuse book, Brent AUen attempts to sort out the archaeological and Uterary information concerning Hippolytus and to set forth a historical interpretation of the "schism" that divided the Roman Church in the early third century. Because of the nature of the sources and the vast scholarly Uterature on the archaeological data, the argument is often dense and highly technical , and many of the points discussed at great length wiU be of interest only to speciaUzed readers. But Brent does have a thesis, and it has to do, as the subtitle suggests, with the development of the monarchical episcopate and the organization of the Church in Rome in the third century. FoUowing the suggestion of Peter Lampe in his study of the early Roman Church, Brent attempts to show that the monarchical episcopate was late in developing in the city of Rome. Lampe was concerned chiefly with the second century, but AUen argues that even in the thUd century, i.e., in Hippolytus' time, the Roman Church was composed of several different communities simUar to phUosophical schools and that it is within this social setting that Hippolytus is best understood. Put simply ,the city ofRome did not have a single "bishop"in the early third centuryThe statue is a "corporate icon" of the community that supported Hippolytus. Brent is weU aware of the complexity of the issues surrounding Hippolytus and the Roman Church in the thUd century, and an invaluable feature of the book is the careful discussion of the scholarly Uterature. He is cognizant of conflicting opinions on many of the points he discusses and the arguments against his interpretation. One of the most important counter-arguments is that the ApostoUc Tradition, the Roman church order associated with the name of Hippolytus , makes a clear distinction between the office of presbyter and bishop. The final long chapter of the book analyzes in detaU the Uterary, historical, and theological problems within the ApostoUc Tradition. Much of the analysis is illuminating and convincing, but the argument requUes that at each stage of the discussion the reader accept AUen's dissection and reconstruction of the bits and pieces that comprise the edifice as a whole.There are too many uncertainties to provide sure historical footing. Yet, Brent does make one look at the make-up of the Church of Rome in the early third century with new eyes.This is a learned and provocative work, an extraordinary mine of information, and an indispensable bibUographical resource for aU future study of Hippolytus. Robert L.Wilken University of Virginia Ambrose ofMilan and the End of the Arian-Nicene Conflicts. By Daniel H. WUUams. [Oxford Early Christian Studies.] (NewYork: Clarendon Press, Oxford University Press. 1995. Pp. xii, 258. $59.00.) WUUams' book contributes one good piece to the redrawn map of the "Arian controversy."Arianism is UsuaUy—and rightly—seen as a primarily eastern phenomenon ; but WUUams sketches one distinctively western mamfestation of it, 296book reviews properly caUed Homoianism. Further, whUe any IUe of Ambrose of Milan mentions that he succeeded the "Arian" bishop Auxentius in 374, and in 386 kept Justina, the Arianizing mother ofValentinian,from taking over a basUica in MUan for her cause,WUUams shows that Ambrose's engagement with the Homoians involved far more than these two moments. WesternArianism,from 360 on,is"Homoianism,"which designates a set ofbeliefs accepted by the Synod ofAriminum in 360 and enshrined in a creed promulgated at Constantinople Ui 360, according to which the Son is "like the Father, who begot him, according to the Scriptures," a phrase that was meant to replace the troublesome homoousion of the Creed of Nicaea. A coda to the creed aboUshed the word ousia and forbade the use of hypostasis in regard to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit."The Son is like the Father"was to be the phrase accepted by aU. WUUams undertakes to restudy the events in northern Italy from 360, when the Homoian creed was enacted, to 387, when the discovery of the reUcs of Gervasius and Protasius (386) and the invasion of Italy by Magnus Maximus (387) effectively put an end to Homoianism in theWest.WUUams treats his topic in...