Anna Wilson has a stimulating essay on the rise of biography after the conversion of Constantine, the Vita Constantini of Eusebius being the leading model. The rise of biography manifests the change in the fortunes of the church, as bios replaced martyrion as the leading subject of Christian biographical writing. Living in the Christian empire, Christians need to have exemplars of life, not only of death. At the same time, the gospel narrative as a whole, and Old Testament narratives as well, become models for the lives of saints.
Biography as practiced in the church rests on mimesis – the subject of the biography is an imitator of Christ (or some Christlike other in the Bible or history), and the reader is called to imitate Christ by following in the footsteps of the biographical subject. Patristic biography lays the groundwork for the more developed medieval piety of imitatio Christi .
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
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