Christian Emperors and Roman Elites in Late Antiquity by Rita Lizzi Testa (review)

Abstract

context of the United States, such as with the modern hell house phenomenon and tours of hell in entertainment like the television sitcom The Good Place and the Netflix series Orange is the New Black. Thus, any impulse to dismiss such punitive imaginative constructions as primitive is untenable. Henning argues convincingly that centering non-normative bodies in a punitive framework—ancient or modern—does not contain sin and injustice. There is no containment because reducing suffering, non-normative bodies to tools that educate or entertain in a punitive frame “objectifies not only the female and disabled bodies of the damned, but the bodies of the viewers themselves” (149). Hell Hath No Fury makes a compelling case that images of hell—ancient or modern—affect how one views earthly bodies and justice in relation to those bodies. Amy Hughes, Gordon College