Peter Brown examines the rise of the church through the lens of money and the ch
allenges it posed to an institution that espoused the virtue of poverty and call
ed avarice the root of all evil. Drawing on the writings of major Christian thin
kers such as Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome, Brown examines the controversies an
d changing attitudes toward money caused by the influx of new wealth into church
coffers, and describes the spectacular acts of divestment by rich donors and th
eir growing influence in an empire beset with crisis. He shows how the use of we
alth for the care of the poor competed with older forms of philanthropy deeply r
ooted in the Roman world, and sheds light on the ordinary people who gave away t
heir money in hopes of treasure in heaven.
