Ingo Schaaf: Urbs potens, urbs orbis domina, urbs Apostoli voce laudata. Jerome's Adversus Iovinianum as an exercise in Christian Romanness

Jerome's treatise against Jovinian, dating to the year 393, is widely (in)famous for both its ascetic vigor and violent rhetoric with which it further fueled the Jovinianist controversy (Hunter 2007: 230-242). However, some crucial aspects of this influential work, even if touched upon in scholarly literature so far, yet remain relatively unexplored. Characterized by an "imposing parade of learning" (Kelly 1975: 184), drawn largely from non-Christian sources, the Adversus Iovinianum is addressed to a readership which shares the author's educational background. This presupposed acquaintance with Classical literature results in what might, rather paradoxically, be called Jerome's most Roman work, since he had been living in far off Bethlehem for years already at the time of its composition. Such a high degree of 'Romanness', deriving from authority-based modes of identification (cf. Pohl 2018: 3), in Jerome's case coalesces with the eruditeness of the Biblical scholar battling what he conceived of as heretical turmoil on the rise during his absence from Rome (cf. Dial. adv. Pelag. prol. 2). In marshaling arguments from heterogenous fields as these, i.e. pagan literary exempla and Scripture alike, the Stridonian with his Adversus Iovinianum delivers a prime contribution to the concept of 'Christian Romanness' in Late Antiquity.   Works cited​Kelly 1975 – Kelly, J.N.D.: Jerome (New York 1975)Hunter 2007 – Hunter, D.G.: Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity. The Jovinianist Controversy (Oxford 2007)Pohl 2018 – Pohl, W.: Introduction: Early medieval Romanness – a multiple Identity, in: idem et al. (eds): Transformations of Romanness (Berlin/Boston 2018) 3-39.