With Monks and the Hierarchical Church in Egypt and the Levant during Late Antiquity, Ewa Wipszycka has produced another remarkable monograph, which every historian of the late ancient Church and of monasticism should consult. I use the word consult advisedly because the book consists of a series of case studies in interactions between monks and clergy, especially bishops, in Egypt, Palestine, and Greater Syria during late antiquity and does not present a sustained argument. As Wipszycka states in her Conclusion, she finds that “relations” between monks and the hierarchical Church were “diverse” and wholly dependent on “context in the broadest sense of the word,” that is, including doctrinal disputes, secular politics, the personalities and goals of the actors, and the characteristics of geographical landscapes. If she makes any single argument, it is that these relations “cannot be traced along one consistent line.” Above all, “Max Weber's suggestions on the nature of conflict between charismatic movement (monks) and institution (Church hierarchy) do not help to understand those relations” (459). Therefore, I expect that few historians will read the book from cover to cover; rather, they will want to consult it for the author's invaluable examinations of individual events and sources. A detailed Table of Contents and five outstanding indices will facilitate such use.

The book consists of five large chapters. The first, “Prolegomena,” offers an introduction, discussions of the canons of the Council of Chalcedon concerning monasticism and the Emperor Justinian's monastic legislation, and an extended attack on Peter Brown's concept of “the holy man.” Chapters 2, 3, and 4 concern Egypt, Palestine, and the Patriarchate of Antioch/Greater Syria, respectively, and discuss sources and incidents in roughly chronological order from the fourth through the sixth centuries. Chapter 5 by Adam Izdebski does the same for Persian Christians in Late Antiquity. A summary of the topics in Chapter 3 on Palestine will give a sense of how the book proceeds. A brief discussion of the situation in the Sinai (185–190) is followed by consideration of monks in Gaza, including Isaiah (of Scetis), Peter the Iberian, and the letters of Barsanuphius and John, which Wipszycka intriguingly speculates may be fictitious (190–208). Then, we turn to Jerusalem and the ascetics there, and especially to the importance of pilgrimage and the effects of the first Origenist controversy (208–225). The remainder of the chapter studies the monks of the Judaean desert, with special attention to the problems caused by the Council of Chalcedon, the reign of Anastasius (491–518 C.E.), and the second Origenist controversy (225–258). A section of “Conclusions” highlights the diversity of Palestinian monastic communities, their independence from episcopal and imperial control, and their exceptionally frequent involvement in “the outside world” (258–260).

The advantages of this structure include appreciation of regional particularities and of the idiosyncratic personalities of individual actors; on the other hand, a less atomized approach might have benefited the analyses of topics that cross regions, such as the first Origenist controversy and monastic itinerancy (wandering, begging monks). Every chapter must address the divisions that resulted from the Christological debates of the fifth century, and Wipszycka finds that they were more significant for monastic relationships with the Church hierarchy in Syria than in Egypt and Palestine (413).

The strengths and limitations of Wipszycka's approach will surprise no one familiar with her substantial and distinguished body of work. Her analyses exhibit the hallmarks of her scholarship: close readings of sources (often reproduced in their entirety), transparent argumentation, and clear prose. Wipszycka often tells us as much about what she cannot know (and why not) as about what she can. Few historians can work so deftly with sources of diverse genres in not only Greek and Latin but also Coptic and Syriac. Sharp polemics are a less salutary characteristic of Wipszycka's writing, and they also appear here. In addition to Brown (50–56), she severely criticizes Philippe Escolan (410–412), this reviewer (181), and many other scholars. In contrast to her scholarly adversaries, Wipszycka resists models and concepts derived from comparative work in anthropology, sociology (e.g., Weber), religious studies, or some other field, and she is reluctant to reach any conclusions that cannot be found explicitly in the sources. If the ancient people themselves were not aware of what the historian claims happened, then it did not happen (336).

Even historians of late ancient Christianity and monasticism who are less positivist and more hermenutically daring in their work than Wipszycka—and there are few who are not—will learn from what she says here about any of the events she studies. This book is essential.