Author(s)

ZhaoYuan Chen

Affiliation(s)

School of Business and Management, Jilin University, Changchun 130015, Jilin, China. 

Corresponding Author

ZhaoYuan Chen

ABSTRACT

This paper examines Peter Brown’s methodological innovations in Through the Eye of a Needle, with particular emphasis on his use of private documents, sermons, wills, and official records to reconstruct the religious, social, and economic transformations of Late Antiquity. By analyzing the cases of Symmachus and Ambrose, the study demonstrates how Brown employs epistolary networks and ecclesiastical texts to reveal the shifting moral economy of wealth and the integration of Christianity into civic life. The paper argues that Brown bridges micro-level individual experiences with macro-historical structures, offering a polyphonic and intertextual narrative that reframes wealth as spiritual capital and highlights the continuity and transformation of Roman aristocratic traditions. Ultimately, Brown’s work illustrates how subtle shifts in language, rhetorical strategies, and practices of giving not only illuminate individual belief systems but also reshape our understanding of the historical reconfiguration of late Roman society.

KEYWORDS

Wealth and religion; Ancient rome; Social transformation; Late antiquity; Historiography; Peter Brown; Individual experience; Historical reconstruction

CITE THIS PAPER

ZhaoYuan Chen.The use of historical sources in Peter Brown's Through the Eye of a Needle: from individual experience to historical reconstruction. World Journal of Sociology and Law. 2025, 3(2): 1-5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.61784/wjsl3025.

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