Asceticism and Christological Controversy in Fifth-Century Palestine: The Career of Peter the Iberian

Examines and reconstructs the anti-Chalcedonian movement in Palestine on the basis of one of its most important witnesses, the fifth-century "Life of Peter, the Iberian" by John Rufus. This book uses textual, as well as archaeological data to reconstruct the history of Peter, the Iberian and his significant role in the anti-Chalcedonian Church.
The Life of Peter the Iberian by John Rufus records the ascetic struggle of a fifth-century anti-Chalcedonian bishop of Mayyuma, Palestine. Cornelia Horn presents a historical-critical study of the only substantial anti-Chalcedonian witness to the history of the conflict in Palestine and analyses the formative period of fifth-century anti-Chalcedonian hierarchy, theology, and its ascetic expression. Important themes are pilgrimage as an ascetic ideal and
asceticism as source of theological authority. Archaeological data on many places in the Levant and textual sources in Syriac, Coptic, Greek, Armenian, and Georgian are examined. This book contributes to our understanding of the origins of anti-Chalcedonian theology and the influence of asceticism on its
development, the Christian topography of the Levant, and the history of the anti-Chalcedonian movement in Palestine.