This volume is a revised dissertation produced under the supervision of Peter Brown at Princeton University. It is a well-written study and the only substantial English work on Theodore of Mopsuestia's Catechetical Homilies. S.'s topic is catechesis, that is, the often lengthy and complex process by which adults became initiated into the Christian churches of the fourth century. While there is a good deal of catechetical literature that survives from this century, S. focuses on Theodore's sixteen sermons preached in Antioch in the early 390s. These are one of the few surviving examples of a coherent catechetical curriculum delivered during a single Lenten season (p. 5). Chapter 1 orients readers to Theodore, his Antiochene milieu and his decidedly mixed reception history.

The basic argument is that preachers availed themselves of a variety of means by which ‘to create a Christianized culture’ (p. 3). The term paideia (‘education’, ‘culture’) in the book's title is used analogically. S. is not arguing that catechesis functioned as an alternative to Graeco-Roman education or culture. Rather his use of the term ‘seeks to capture the idea of the formation of a culture through a system of education. Just as classical paideia served to differentiate elites from the rest of society, so the distinctly Christian culture promoted through catechesis sought to create a group set apart from the rest of society and embedded within a community that shared unique beliefs and rituals’ (p. 3). Elsewhere S. borrows from P. Bourdieu, speaking of the formation of a ‘habitus’ through catechesis (pp. 23–4).

S. highlights three interlocking facets of Theodore's catechesis: immersing catechumens in the social structures of the church; educating them in basic Christian teachings and practices; and enjoining them to participate in a series of ritual practices. The social (Chapter 3), intellectual (Chapter 4) and ritual (Chapter 5) dimensions of catechesis constitute the heart of the book and collectively provide a vivid reconstruction of what catechesis looked like in Antioch. These chapters are preceded by a discussion of the secrecy that surrounded the Christian faith and its rituals (Chapter 2). Here S. argues that catechesis as initiation into these arcane ministries served to emphasise exclusivity, the division between the catechumens and those outside the church.

Chapter 3 turns directly to Theodore's Catechetical Homilies. S. highlights the ways in which Theodore's sermons oriented catechumens to the hierarchical structure of the church that reached down from God through the bishop, presbyters, deacons and minor clergy, to the newly baptised. Theodore emphasised the social roles of the higher clergy – education, discipline and care of the poor – as well as the ways in which catechumens were integrated through their sponsors into this spiritual hierarchy. In Chapter 4 S. outlines Theodore's teaching of the creed in his first ten Catechetical Homilies. However, the central concern in this chapter is with the vocabulary of education that permeates these homilies and the variety of rhetorical techniques Theodore deployed to facilitate the learning of doctrine. For Theodore, catechesis was fundamentally ‘an educational system’ (p. 102). The fifth chapter examines the rituals of baptism and eucharist discussed in Theodore's final five homilies. Here S. follows their author in elucidating the theological meanings symbolised by the distinctive ritual actions enjoined in these liturgies and how participating in them ‘brought one into contact with heavenly reality’ (p. 118).

This study offers a fine contribution to the complex historiographical problems of ‘conversion’ and the ‘Christianization’ of the Roman empire. S.'s work complements the wide spectrum of approaches to these vexing topics (approaches outlined in the introductory chapter). His work can also be read as a corrective to those who marginalise or ignore the process of catechesis from the larger phenomenon of Christianisation (R. MacMullen's scholarship is often in view – cf. pp. 12–14; 19–20; 141–2). While not endorsing A.D. Nock's highly intellectualist conception of conversion, S. wants to alert us to the fact that some Christians were in fact initiated into the church through a process of rigorous instruction. The deeper moral of S.'s story is that catechists utilised diverse avenues – social ties, doctrines and rituals – to lead equally diverse individuals into the church. Multiple strategies corresponded to the multiple configurations of needs and expectations that catechumens brought to the church.