ABSTRACT
Books profiling the leading figures of the early church tend to commit one of three crimes against Ambrose, bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. Scholarship has in recent years come to appreciate in much more nuanced fashion the intellectual contours of Ambrose's activity as biblical interpreter, preacher, liturgist and pastor, recognizing the complex ways in which his moral teaching and practice reflect his efforts to demonstrate the transformative power of divine grace. Aurelius Ambrosius did not come from the top drawer of senatorial society, but he did hail from a privileged background. Ambrose's mind remained steeped in the literature and mythology of the classical world. The political significance which Ambrose's agencies had come to assume also brought him a remarkable role in the checking of Maximus' rebellion. Milan, for all its political significance, still needed to evolve an ecclesial identity distinct from Rome's by weaving its independent customs into a tighter and more confident package.
