The authorexamines the historical context of instructions for the everyday conduct of prosperous Christians and the authors of these instruction manuals from 200 AD and links this examination with a study of attitudes towardsthe human body as revealed in the instructions. The volume shows how, far from denying the body, the standards relating to health display a legitimate concern for bodily well-being. At the same time, however, there is a fear of the body, which makes it necessary to keep it constantly under control.
Key Features

• it makes a contribution to the intensive research at present being conducted into the “Second Sophistic”
• it combines historical, philological, and theological methods and insights
• it is also of relevance for the history of medicine.