Resumen de The Invention of Peter: Apostolic Discourse and Papal Authority in Late Antiquity

David L. Eastman (res.)

• In this book Demacopoulos provides not simply another history of the papacy in late antiquity, but "a study of how the literary and ritualistic embellishment of a link between the historic Peter and the papal see of subsequent centuries functioned within a series of existence and interconnected late ancient discourses of authority and exclusion" (1-2). John of Constantinople's claim to the term "Ecumenical Patriarch" was a direct challenge to Rome's authority, and Gregory employs Petrine language in full vigor in his letter to the emperor Maurice. A Postscript on the Life of St. Gregory of Agrigentum shows that even in the seventh century, papal influence was weak enough in Rome that a text could be produced that explicitly criticized a previous bishop (Gregory I).