About the Book:This literate and accessible study examines the profound impact Paulinus had on Christian thought during a crucial period of its development. The letters of Paulinus and his correspondents portray an early Christian ‘web’ of shared concepts, intellectual discussion, and group development. Catherine Conybeare examines how the very process of writing and transmitting letters between members of a community helped to bind that community together and to aid the creation of ideas which would continue to reverberate for centuries. Paulinus was key to that group iconic as a model of behavior, as a conversion success story, and as an intellectual contributor able to bridge the old world and the new.