Current nonfiction reading is The End of Ancient Christianity by the late Robert Markus, originally published in 1990. Markus was one of the greatest Anglophone historians of late antiquity, and this book is a testament to the grace and profundity of his thought. His principal argument is that, as secular culture ebbed from the Latin-speaking west in the last years of the Roman Empire, it was gradually replaced by a Biblical culture that looked to Scripture for its foundational assumptions. Along the way, he explores such topics as the rise of papal authority in the city of Rome, the Christianization of the calendar, and the tensions within early monasticism between rigid, inward-looking ascetics and those who prioritized communal life. An immensely learned book that nonetheless remains very readable.
