Paige Zauel
Research Mentor(s): Ellen Muehlberger
Mentor Department: History
Authors:
Session: Session 2 (10:00am – 10:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 77
Abstract
Gregory the Great’s writings, especially Cura Pastoralis written in 590 CE, provide guidelines for how Gregory the Great and leaders of the Christian community in Rome should navigate the intersection of their community and the city of Rome going into the 7th century CE. Similarly in Gregory the Great’s Moralia, written in the late 6th century CE, he analyzes the role of a temporal leader and the role of civic authority. Gregory the Great saw the relationship between the clergy and temporal leaders as dynamic and mutually beneficial, but also believed that civic leadership fit underneath the greater mission of spiritual leadership and God. This perspective was influential for the Christian community going into the medieval period and evolved as Rome evolved. In my paper I would like to use the writings of Gregory the Great and modern scholarship about him to address how the Christian community of Gregory’s time fit into Roman civic life and how the Roman civic leadership evolved to include and promote Christian and spiritual teachings from the bishop of Rome. I will also use the Liber Pontificalis, which was supplemented up until the 15th century CE, to explain how the bishop of Rome influenced the Roman identity and how the Christian community became a distinctly Roman institution, politically and spiritually.
