In this work of sweeping erudition, one of our foremost historians of early Christianity considers a variety of theoretical critiques to examine the problems and opportunities posed by the ways in which history is written. Elizabeth Clark argues forcefully for a renewal of the study of premodern Western history through engagement with the kinds of critical methods that have transformed other humanities disciplines in recent decades. "History, Theory, Text" provides a user-friendly survey of crucial developments in nineteenth- and twentieth-century debates surrounding history, philosophy, and critical theory. Beginning with the "noble dream" of "history as it really was" in the works of Leopold von Ranke, Clark goes on to review Anglo-American philosophies of history, schools of twentieth-century historiography, structuralism, the debate over narrative history, the changing fate of the history of ideas, and the impact of interpretive anthropology and literary theory on current historical scholarship. In a concluding chapter she offers some practical case studies to illustrate how attending to theoretical considerations can illuminate the study of premodernity. Written with energy and clarity, "History, Theory, Text" is a clarion call to historians for richer and more imaginative use of contemporary theory.

ELIZABETH A. CLARK (1982) received her B.A. from Vassar College, her M.A. and Ph.D. (1965) from Columbia University. She has authored or co-authored eleven books. Ascetic Piety and Women's Faith: Essays on Late Ancient Christianity, won the 1986 Adele Mellen prize for distinguished contributions to scholarship. History-Theory-Text: Historians and the Linguistic Turn will be published by Harvard University Press in September, 2004. Dr. Clark has been President of the American Academy of Religion, of the American Society of Church History, and of the North American Patristic Society. She teaches all phases of the History of Christianity