Robin Whelan
Biographic Data
| ID | 5717664 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Robin Whelan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Robin |
| FAMILY NAME | Whelan |
| SIGNATURE | WHELAN R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Liverpool |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6664-3381 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 10 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 10 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Arianism and Other Christological Disputes
Count Irenaeus and the Nestorian Controversy
Irenaeus has tended to be a bit player in modern narratives of the Nestorian controversy. Where the count features in accounts of the church politics of the 430s, it is as an essentially ‘secular’ figure: a conduit to the palace and supplier of coercive force for Nestorius and his Syrian episcopal allies. This article argues that Irenaeus was much more directly involved in doctrinal debate and the maintenance of ecclesiastical alliances than has …
Modestus at Edessa. Imperial officials in the ecclesiastical histories of Rufinus, Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret
This article considers the depictions of imperial officials and their interactions with Christian communities in the genre of ecclesiastical history. It focuses on one particular episode where the emperor Valens ordered his praetorian prefect Domitius Modestus to disperse an assembly of Nicene Christians at the martyrium of Thomas at Edessa. The four fifth-century Nicene ecclesiastical historians Rufinus, Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret offer th…
After Augustine, after Markus
This article revisits Robert Markus's account of the de‐secularization of the Latin West between Augustine and Gregory the Great. It uses letters of advice for rulers written by early sixth‐century clerics to contest his narrative of a ‘grand simplification’ of Christian thought. Multiple overlapping conceptions of the secular were still in play after the fall of Rome, articulated, not in the absence of, but in dialogue with robust political inst…
Missing Queens
This paper reconsiders a curious aspect of the Vandal kingdom of North Africa (439–533 ce ): the total absence of women called Vandals in extant sources. It argues that these missing Vandal women are the women of the Hasding royal dynasty. The non‐application of the ethnic terminology to the consorts, sisters and daughters of kings and princes corresponds to a broader dearth of contemporary discussions of their political agency. This reduced visi…
Mirrors for Bureaucrats
This article tackles a relatively under-studied aspect of the Christianisation of the Roman aristocracy. It considers the influence of Christian norms on a key stage in the elite male life course: service to the state. Drawing on the letters of Isidore of Pelusium, Augustine of Hippo and Theodoret of Cyrrhus to imperial officials, this article argues that a Christian rhetoric of office-holding had developed across the Mediterranean by the first h…
The Donatist Schism
The Donatist schism is a slippery beast. It began in the late 300s or early 310s with a contested election for the see of Carthage between two claimants—Caecilian and Maiorinus (replaced, on his death, by the eponymous Donatus). By the second decade of the fifth century, when the imperial state under Honorius sought to unify them once and for all, the rival churches had grown to over 300 bishops each, operating in communities across the Roman pro…
Buchbesprechungen
Surrogate Fathers
This article seeks to contribute to recent debates over Christian dialogue in late antiquity. It explores a specific form of dialogue text: invented debates about the definition of correct doctrine, often starring renowned church Fathers and notorious heretics. It argues that, far from symbolizing an ‘end’ to dialogue in late antiquity – closed down by appeals to patristic authorities – these heresiological dialogues helped to perpetuate controve…
African Controversy
A sense of an ending dominates accounts of African Christianity after the Vandal conquest of the 430s, not least as a result of the apparent disappearance of the Donatists in an Africa now ruled by Homoian Christians. In fact, the transfer from Donatist schism to new ‘Arian controversy’ more closely resembles the broader picture of Vandal Africa which has emerged from recent scholarship: significant continuity amid dynamic transformation. The cul…
After Augustine, after Markus
This article revisits Robert Markus's account of the de‐secularization of the Latin West between Augustine and Gregory the Great. It uses letters of advice for rulers written by early sixth‐century clerics to contest his narrative of a ‘grand simplification’ of Christian thought. Multiple overlapping conceptions of the secular were still in play after the fall of Rome, articulated, not in the absence of, but in dialogue with robust political inst…
African Controversy
A sense of an ending dominates accounts of African Christianity after the Vandal conquest of the 430s, not least as a result of the apparent disappearance of the Donatists in an Africa now ruled by Homoian Christians. In fact, the transfer from Donatist schism to new ‘Arian controversy’ more closely resembles the broader picture of Vandal Africa which has emerged from recent scholarship: significant continuity amid dynamic transformation. The cul…
African Controversy
A sense of an ending dominates accounts of African Christianity after the Vandal conquest of the 430s, not least as a result of the apparent disappearance of the Donatists in an Africa now ruled by Homoian Christians. In fact, the transfer from Donatist schism to new ‘Arian controversy’ more closely resembles the broader picture of Vandal Africa which has emerged from recent scholarship: significant continuity amid dynamic transformation. The cul…
Buchbesprechungen
Surrogate Fathers
This article seeks to contribute to recent debates over Christian dialogue in late antiquity. It explores a specific form of dialogue text: invented debates about the definition of correct doctrine, often starring renowned church Fathers and notorious heretics. It argues that, far from symbolizing an ‘end’ to dialogue in late antiquity – closed down by appeals to patristic authorities – these heresiological dialogues helped to perpetuate controve…
Mirrors for Bureaucrats
This article tackles a relatively under-studied aspect of the Christianisation of the Roman aristocracy. It considers the influence of Christian norms on a key stage in the elite male life course: service to the state. Drawing on the letters of Isidore of Pelusium, Augustine of Hippo and Theodoret of Cyrrhus to imperial officials, this article argues that a Christian rhetoric of office-holding had developed across the Mediterranean by the first h…
The Donatist Schism
The Donatist schism is a slippery beast. It began in the late 300s or early 310s with a contested election for the see of Carthage between two claimants—Caecilian and Maiorinus (replaced, on his death, by the eponymous Donatus). By the second decade of the fifth century, when the imperial state under Honorius sought to unify them once and for all, the rival churches had grown to over 300 bishops each, operating in communities across the Roman pro…
After Augustine, after Markus
This article revisits Robert Markus's account of the de‐secularization of the Latin West between Augustine and Gregory the Great. It uses letters of advice for rulers written by early sixth‐century clerics to contest his narrative of a ‘grand simplification’ of Christian thought. Multiple overlapping conceptions of the secular were still in play after the fall of Rome, articulated, not in the absence of, but in dialogue with robust political inst…
Missing Queens
This paper reconsiders a curious aspect of the Vandal kingdom of North Africa (439–533 ce ): the total absence of women called Vandals in extant sources. It argues that these missing Vandal women are the women of the Hasding royal dynasty. The non‐application of the ethnic terminology to the consorts, sisters and daughters of kings and princes corresponds to a broader dearth of contemporary discussions of their political agency. This reduced visi…
Modestus at Edessa. Imperial officials in the ecclesiastical histories of Rufinus, Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret
This article considers the depictions of imperial officials and their interactions with Christian communities in the genre of ecclesiastical history. It focuses on one particular episode where the emperor Valens ordered his praetorian prefect Domitius Modestus to disperse an assembly of Nicene Christians at the martyrium of Thomas at Edessa. The four fifth-century Nicene ecclesiastical historians Rufinus, Socrates, Sozomen, and Theodoret offer th…
Arianism and Other Christological Disputes
Count Irenaeus and the Nestorian Controversy
Irenaeus has tended to be a bit player in modern narratives of the Nestorian controversy. Where the count features in accounts of the church politics of the 430s, it is as an essentially ‘secular’ figure: a conduit to the palace and supplier of coercive force for Nestorius and his Syrian episcopal allies. This article argues that Irenaeus was much more directly involved in doctrinal debate and the maintenance of ecclesiastical alliances than has …
Byzantine Studies and History (8 works) · History (8 works) · History (7 works) · Classics (6 works) · Classics (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome (5 works) · Law (5 works)