This article revisits Robert Markus's account of the de‐secularization of the Latin West between Augustine and Gregory the Great. It uses letters of advice for rulers written by early sixth‐century clerics to contest his narrative of a ‘grand simplification’ of Christian thought. Multiple overlapping conceptions of the secular were still in play after the fall of Rome, articulated, not in the absence of, but in dialogue with robust political institutions. By uncoupling Christian ideas of secularity from the actual degree of religious pluralism or tolerance in a given society, historians can better capture the continued complexity of early medieval secularities.

中文翻译：

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在奥古斯丁之后，在马库斯之后：古代末期的世俗问题

本文回顾了罗伯特·马库斯（Robert Markus）关于奥古斯丁与格里高利大帝之间的拉美西部非世俗化的论述。它使用六世纪初的牧师为统治者写的忠告来对抗他关于基督教思想的“巨大简化”的叙述。在罗马沦陷后，世俗的多重重叠概念仍在发挥作用，这种表达不是在没有缺席的情况下出现的，而是与强大的政治机构进行对话的。通过将基督教的世俗观念与特定社会中宗教多元化或宽容的实际程度脱钩，历史学家可以更好地把握中世纪早期世俗的持续复杂性。