Medici et medicamenta: The Medicine of Penance in Late Antiquity. By Natalie Brigit Molineaux. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2009. xviii + 315 pp. $44.95 paper

摘要

author is able to extract from the terse, non-literary documents examined. Theninformation in Luijendijk’s text is supplemented by numerous, extensive, andninformative footnotes. As a result, Luijendijk has produced a unique andnvaluable work. However, while the book is impressive overall, there arenplaces where Luijendijk’s evidence does not support her conclusions or,nmore accurately, her conclusions represent only one of several possibilities.nFor example, she concludes that Sotas was a bishop based upon her newnreading of P.Oxy. 36.2785. Her reading of this papyrus, however, representsnonly one possible interpretation. The former reading still remains a viablenoption. Another example concerns her assumption that Sotas produced booksnat his house based on his (albeit somewhat unusual) use of parchment fornsome of his letters. While this is a clever suggestion that certainly fallsnwithin the range of possibilities, it represents only one of a number ofnfeasible explanations. Regardless, Luijendijk’s book is groundbreaking. Itnpresents a fascinating picture of Christian life in third- and fourth-centurynEgypt that is otherwise unavailable. It is highly recommended for students ofnearly Christianity and particularly Christianity in Egypt prior to Constantine.