This volume collects together four studies by the late Richard Klein, distinguished historian and formerly Professor of Ancient History at the University of Erlangen. Although published posthumously, Klein oversaw the main revision of the texts, leaving only minor technical alterations and additions for the editors to complete.

The first study (‘Zur staatlichen Dimension des Bischofsamtes seit Konstantin dem Grossen’) surveys the involvement, standing and role of bishops in late antique imperial administration and society (legal, economic, socially caring) and the corresponding impact on the development of the Church. Klein emphasises that the administration and church authorities both retained their respective priorities and interests but detects much confluence and views the development as ultimately beneficial to both. The second study (‘Pagane liberalitas oder christliche caritas? Konstantins Sorge für die Bevölkerung des Reiches’) analyses Constantine's beneficence and concludes that it remained largely shaped by traditional patterns of personal virtues and idealised imperial rule, responding to specific situations and needs, rather than being transformed by a sustained policy of Christian charity, even though the Church became ever more frequently its recipient and its organisation and personnel were increasingly employed in its course. The third study complements the second with a closer look at the social activities of the Church during the fourth and fifth centuries (‘Das soziale Wirken der Kirche in der Spätantike’), tracing their gradual increase and widening of scope, ranging from private initiatives to the institution of large establishments for the poor, the sick, orphans and travellers. These activities are perceived as one of the Church's most attractive features at the time and considered of increasing importance to the internal stability of empire, but also producing an increase in power for the clergy that had the potential for abuse.

The fourth study returns to a topic which Klein pursued as a lifelong interest: slavery (‘Ennodius von Pavia und die Sklaverei. Eine Fallstudie an der Wende vom Altertum zum Mittelalter’). In Ennodius' work and correspondence Klein finds evidence for a largely unchanged economic reliance on and social attitude towards slavery in northern Italy in the fifth and sixth centuries, and suggests that slavery existed and remained central to the economy well into the Middle Ages and for much longer than Marxist perspectives allow. Between them, the essays provide a valuable survey of the interaction between Roman authorities, society and the Church, mainly from the point of view of social and economic history, and in a perspective usually sympathetic to Christian influence. Ranging broadly across regions and more than three centuries, they nevertheless reveal meticulous attention to detail, nuanced interpretation of individual sources and sensible caution in generalising their import. The footnotes provide very detailed references; they and the main text very helpfully quote major sources at length, both in the original and in a German translation. Originally conceived for a non-specialist academic readership in Germany, the volume will be particularly useful for research students wanting to gain access to relevant research in the German language.