Jesus taught his followers that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. This book offers a sweeping intellectual and social history of the vexing problem of wealth in Christianity in the waning days of the Roman Empire. "Magisterial. . . . Brown's newest monograph belongs on the bookcase of every late ancient and medieval historian. . . . A stunning accomplishment."---Elizabeth DePalma Digesner, H-Net Reviews