In this seminal treatise, Peter J. Leithart argues that the coming of the New Creation in Jesus Christ has profound and revolutionary implications for social order, implications symbolized and effected in the ritual of baptism. In Christ and Christian baptism, the ancient distinctions between priest and non-priest, between patrician and plebian, are dissolved, giving rise to a new humanity in which there is no Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. Yet, beginning in the medieval period, the church has blunted the revolutionary force of baptism, and reintroduced antique distinctions whose destruction was announced by the gospel. Leithart calls the church to renew her commitment to the gospel that offers "priesthood to the plebs."

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Münster (English Department), course: Literatur und Kulturwissenschaft -Shakespeare: The Roman Plays, language: English, abstract: The first associations with William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar are generally the main characters Caesar and Brutus and the consequent conflict between loyalty to a friend and the common good. Furthermore there are the conspirators or other important characters known from history, but there is an important “figure” which is more essential than it seems at first sight: the plebs. A major part of the play is about Brutus ́ struggle about the common good. In fact he never puts this into concrete terms. “For the good of Rome” (JC 3.3.45) should be the same as ‘for the good of the plebeians’, since they are the biggest group of people living in Rome. What exactly Brutus meant by that stays vague. In contrast to this it is obvious that in the end the plebeians not only lose their beloved Caesar but also the most important thing in a community: peace. Cassius characterizes the plebs “sheep” (JC 1.3.105), “trash” (JC 1.3.108) and “offal” (JC 1.3.109). Nevertheless the plebs are at the same time (evident) reason for the conspiracy and reason for its failure, thus symbols of the ambiguity of the conspirators intentions. Their characteristics are crucial for the process of the tragedy. In the following chapters I am going to characterize the plebeians on the basis of their development in the course of the play, focusing on the three scenes in which they appear and then subsequently elaborate their attributes.

This work deals with the mutual relationship between the principes, from Augustus to Nero, and the city plebs. In a pioneering work which seeks to move far beyond simple class and ethnic description, Professor Yavetz asks the tough question: why did key Roman emperors make so many efforts to endear themselves to the urban populace? The situation was not entirely unlike what one observes in present day advanced societies. Although a ruling elite held a monopoly of force and power in military and even legislative terms, Ceasar and Ceasarism well understood the advantages of largesse - from rent relief to public games - consolidating and legitimating power. In a work which is self-defined as a limited slice of history, the author is yet able to illumine vast chunks of political sociology: attitudes of the urban mass to one party rule, the trade-off between material goods and politial loyalty, the maintenance of elementary forms of legality, and a populist bent among those who would rule. Yavetz's classic work, which first appeared in 1969 and has been long unavailable, faithfully employs classical events to illumine modern life - not in a forced, but better, in quite natural ways.