Pub Date : 2021-05-04DOI: 10.1080/2222582X.2021.1883991
J. Punt
Abstract The setting for this article is the ongoing debate about the legality of sex work in South Africa, which received renewed attention when the African National Congress as ruling party passed a resolution in 2017 to decriminalise sex work. In the Global South in particular, entanglements between gender, sexuality and economics are most pronounced in sex work. In South Africa, desperate socio-economic inequalities, alienating gender patterns, and distrusted sexualities are interrelated and interspersed with explicit and subtle appeals to the Bible. It is proposed that the book of Revelation with its rich and at times disturbing, sexualised imagery offers some contours for debates pertaining to the decriminalisation of sex work. Given the spread of Christianity in South Africa, in faith communities and through cultural impact, the popular use of the Bible and the discursive presence of Revelation with regard to sex work is understandable, revealing, and worrying, all at the same time.
{"title":"Revelation, Economics and Sex: The Bible and Sex Work in South Africa","authors":"J. Punt","doi":"10.1080/2222582X.2021.1883991","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2222582X.2021.1883991","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The setting for this article is the ongoing debate about the legality of sex work in South Africa, which received renewed attention when the African National Congress as ruling party passed a resolution in 2017 to decriminalise sex work. In the Global South in particular, entanglements between gender, sexuality and economics are most pronounced in sex work. In South Africa, desperate socio-economic inequalities, alienating gender patterns, and distrusted sexualities are interrelated and interspersed with explicit and subtle appeals to the Bible. It is proposed that the book of Revelation with its rich and at times disturbing, sexualised imagery offers some contours for debates pertaining to the decriminalisation of sex work. Given the spread of Christianity in South Africa, in faith communities and through cultural impact, the popular use of the Bible and the discursive presence of Revelation with regard to sex work is understandable, revealing, and worrying, all at the same time.","PeriodicalId":40708,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Early Christian History","volume":"11 1","pages":"76 - 95"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/2222582X.2021.1883991","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43321395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-05-04DOI: 10.1080/2222582X.2020.1743955
E. Ene D-Vasilescu
Abstract This article discusses the manner in which Pseudo-Dionysius articulates his views about the mystical experience, i.e., the act that leads the faithful to attain glimpses of the divine reality. He sees it as being comparable in particular with the activity of sculpting, which reveals a statue out of the initial material by removing in phases what is superfluous. The text also points out instances of works pertaining to Byzantine art that some researchers claim were either directly or indirectly inspired by the Corpus Dionysiacum. By bringing these into the foreground, we open a discussion about them because, while Pseudo-Dionysius’s influence on particular artistic achievements in the West has already been established, more can be said about it with regard to accomplishments in Eastern Christendom.
{"title":"Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Byzantine Art","authors":"E. Ene D-Vasilescu","doi":"10.1080/2222582X.2020.1743955","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2222582X.2020.1743955","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article discusses the manner in which Pseudo-Dionysius articulates his views about the mystical experience, i.e., the act that leads the faithful to attain glimpses of the divine reality. He sees it as being comparable in particular with the activity of sculpting, which reveals a statue out of the initial material by removing in phases what is superfluous. The text also points out instances of works pertaining to Byzantine art that some researchers claim were either directly or indirectly inspired by the Corpus Dionysiacum. By bringing these into the foreground, we open a discussion about them because, while Pseudo-Dionysius’s influence on particular artistic achievements in the West has already been established, more can be said about it with regard to accomplishments in Eastern Christendom.","PeriodicalId":40708,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Early Christian History","volume":"11 1","pages":"50 - 75"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42685241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/2222582x.2020.1864220
C. Stenschke
(2021). The Eucharist—Its Origins and Context. Vols II and III, edited by David Hellholm and Dieter Sanger. Journal of Early Christian History. Ahead of Print.
{"title":"The Eucharist—Its Origins and Context. Vols II and III, edited by David Hellholm and Dieter Sänger","authors":"C. Stenschke","doi":"10.1080/2222582x.2020.1864220","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2222582x.2020.1864220","url":null,"abstract":"(2021). The Eucharist—Its Origins and Context. Vols II and III, edited by David Hellholm and Dieter Sanger. Journal of Early Christian History. Ahead of Print.","PeriodicalId":40708,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Early Christian History","volume":"11 1","pages":"129 - 134"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/2222582x.2020.1864220","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46938981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/2222582X.2021.1926303
J. Wood
Abstract As Christianity was adopted as the religion of the Empire over the course of the fourth and subsequent centuries, texts about military training began gradually to articulate more forcefully the idea that Christianity was the religion of the state and that it should be protected by force of arms. Yet the army also played a significant role as an institution within which Christian men were formed in the late Roman and early Byzantine empires. This article explores the intersection of military training and Christianity in the late Roman and early Byzantine military. It examines the largely untapped evidence that late antique military manuals provide for the role of Christian praxis in the making of two kinds of military men: first, the generals to whom such manuals were directed; second, the soldiers that they were meant to lead and on whose training the manuals focus much of their attention. The military manuals articulate a clear and evolving vision, heavily influenced by precedent, of how men were to be formed into ideal Christian soldier-subjects who were proficient soldiers and able to keep God on their side in order to prosecute Christian warfare. The manuals provide a model for the formation of hyper-masculine Christian subjects who were able simultaneously to make their subordinates submit to their authority and to act submissively to their superiors, especially the emperor and his generals.
{"title":"Military Manuals, Masculinity, and the Making of Christian Soldiers in Late Antiquity","authors":"J. Wood","doi":"10.1080/2222582X.2021.1926303","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2222582X.2021.1926303","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract As Christianity was adopted as the religion of the Empire over the course of the fourth and subsequent centuries, texts about military training began gradually to articulate more forcefully the idea that Christianity was the religion of the state and that it should be protected by force of arms. Yet the army also played a significant role as an institution within which Christian men were formed in the late Roman and early Byzantine empires. This article explores the intersection of military training and Christianity in the late Roman and early Byzantine military. It examines the largely untapped evidence that late antique military manuals provide for the role of Christian praxis in the making of two kinds of military men: first, the generals to whom such manuals were directed; second, the soldiers that they were meant to lead and on whose training the manuals focus much of their attention. The military manuals articulate a clear and evolving vision, heavily influenced by precedent, of how men were to be formed into ideal Christian soldier-subjects who were proficient soldiers and able to keep God on their side in order to prosecute Christian warfare. The manuals provide a model for the formation of hyper-masculine Christian subjects who were able simultaneously to make their subordinates submit to their authority and to act submissively to their superiors, especially the emperor and his generals.","PeriodicalId":40708,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Early Christian History","volume":"11 1","pages":"88 - 128"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44978981","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/2222582x.2021.1931903
Blossom Stefaniw
Abstract This essay serves as an introduction to a collection of articles on masculinity in early Christianity. It considers problems of the masculine subject as both the knower and the known in traditional historiography. By juxtaposing Tertullian’s polemic against heretical women with da Vinci’s drawing of the Vitruvian man, this essay explores how to think about masculinity as a way of arranging the world and our knowledge of it and in it, using a gaze of queer patience.
{"title":"Masculinity, Historiography, and Uses of the Past: An Introduction","authors":"Blossom Stefaniw","doi":"10.1080/2222582x.2021.1931903","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2222582x.2021.1931903","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This essay serves as an introduction to a collection of articles on masculinity in early Christianity. It considers problems of the masculine subject as both the knower and the known in traditional historiography. By juxtaposing Tertullian’s polemic against heretical women with da Vinci’s drawing of the Vitruvian man, this essay explores how to think about masculinity as a way of arranging the world and our knowledge of it and in it, using a gaze of queer patience.","PeriodicalId":40708,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Early Christian History","volume":"11 1","pages":"1 - 14"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41762465","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/2222582x.2021.1949367
Tyler M. Schwaller
Abstract In the context of Roman masculine ideals, characterised by mastery over self and others, crucifixion proved a conundrum for early Christians who understood Christ as the exemplary human, or Man. Christian writers may have crafted apologia that recast crucifixion as a masculine act of endurance leading ultimately to glory, as in the so-called Christ hymn of Philippians 2. Yet, visualisation of the crucifixion confronted Christians with the problem that Christ might be viewed, literally, as unmanly, non-ideal. This article elaborates angst over shoring up Christ’s masculinity by juxtaposing early Christian interpretations of the Christ hymn, in particular its image of Christ in the form of a slave, and the Alexamenos graffito. Christ’s enslaved form, marked in the Roman world as crucifiable, was re-presented by writers such as Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian as a model of self-control, mastering and purging slavishness. In contrast, the Alexamenos graffito, etched within a context of enslavement, put the crucified Christ on full display, complete with a donkey head and its attendant associations with both slavery and the mockery of philosophical figures. Instead of taking the graffito to represent only the ridicule of Christ, or Christians generally, this essay takes seriously its satirical resonances, making a mockery of masculine ideals in ways that may have suggested solidarity with the enslaved. The article thus underscores early Christian anxiety over Christ’s masculinity, potential alternative responses among the enslaved, as well as new possibilities for making sense of the Alexamenos graffito within its context.
{"title":"Picturing the Enslaved Christ: Philippians 2:6–8, Alexamenos, and a Mockery of Masculinity","authors":"Tyler M. Schwaller","doi":"10.1080/2222582x.2021.1949367","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2222582x.2021.1949367","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract In the context of Roman masculine ideals, characterised by mastery over self and others, crucifixion proved a conundrum for early Christians who understood Christ as the exemplary human, or Man. Christian writers may have crafted apologia that recast crucifixion as a masculine act of endurance leading ultimately to glory, as in the so-called Christ hymn of Philippians 2. Yet, visualisation of the crucifixion confronted Christians with the problem that Christ might be viewed, literally, as unmanly, non-ideal. This article elaborates angst over shoring up Christ’s masculinity by juxtaposing early Christian interpretations of the Christ hymn, in particular its image of Christ in the form of a slave, and the Alexamenos graffito. Christ’s enslaved form, marked in the Roman world as crucifiable, was re-presented by writers such as Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian as a model of self-control, mastering and purging slavishness. In contrast, the Alexamenos graffito, etched within a context of enslavement, put the crucified Christ on full display, complete with a donkey head and its attendant associations with both slavery and the mockery of philosophical figures. Instead of taking the graffito to represent only the ridicule of Christ, or Christians generally, this essay takes seriously its satirical resonances, making a mockery of masculine ideals in ways that may have suggested solidarity with the enslaved. The article thus underscores early Christian anxiety over Christ’s masculinity, potential alternative responses among the enslaved, as well as new possibilities for making sense of the Alexamenos graffito within its context.","PeriodicalId":40708,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Early Christian History","volume":"11 1","pages":"38 - 65"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49126332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/2222582X.2021.1928525
Blossom Stefaniw
Abstract Late Roman masculinity required dominance and control and favoured violent hierarchies. Yet scholars of early Christian martyr acts and ascetic literature frequently observe ambivalence or deviation from this norm. Rather than accumulate more and more exceptions to the traditional ideal (which was never really singular anyway) or continue collecting variations on this model of masculinity, the following essay seeks to shift the model by introducing a notion of masculinity as a plan of escape from vulnerability, not as a state of affairs or set of traits. Treating masculinity as a trajectory and a necessarily volatile process allows us to accommodate all the ambivalence and variety that has already been observed, because flight is always volatile, because human beings trying to be invulnerable is impossible, and because in the late Roman world, that plan of escape passed through a bottleneck of submission to specific other already-sovereign males. I illustrate the notion of masculinity as flight from vulnerability on the basis of an example of ascetic instruction between master and disciple known as the Teachings of Silvanus, tracing a jumbled narrative arc starting with intolerable vulnerability, passing through indulgence in submission and devotion, to the promise of total sovereignty. I wish to suggest that treating vulnerability as intolerable and fleeing from it is what is at the root of late ancient masculinity.
{"title":"Masculinity as Flight: Vulnerability, Devotion, Submission and Sovereignty in the Teachings of Silvanus","authors":"Blossom Stefaniw","doi":"10.1080/2222582X.2021.1928525","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2222582X.2021.1928525","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Late Roman masculinity required dominance and control and favoured violent hierarchies. Yet scholars of early Christian martyr acts and ascetic literature frequently observe ambivalence or deviation from this norm. Rather than accumulate more and more exceptions to the traditional ideal (which was never really singular anyway) or continue collecting variations on this model of masculinity, the following essay seeks to shift the model by introducing a notion of masculinity as a plan of escape from vulnerability, not as a state of affairs or set of traits. Treating masculinity as a trajectory and a necessarily volatile process allows us to accommodate all the ambivalence and variety that has already been observed, because flight is always volatile, because human beings trying to be invulnerable is impossible, and because in the late Roman world, that plan of escape passed through a bottleneck of submission to specific other already-sovereign males. I illustrate the notion of masculinity as flight from vulnerability on the basis of an example of ascetic instruction between master and disciple known as the Teachings of Silvanus, tracing a jumbled narrative arc starting with intolerable vulnerability, passing through indulgence in submission and devotion, to the promise of total sovereignty. I wish to suggest that treating vulnerability as intolerable and fleeing from it is what is at the root of late ancient masculinity.","PeriodicalId":40708,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Early Christian History","volume":"11 1","pages":"66 - 87"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47203615","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2021-01-02DOI: 10.1080/2222582X.2020.1850205
Grace Emmett
Abstract What are we to make of Paul’s use of nursing and birthing as metaphors to describe his dealings with some of the earliest churches? The appropriation of nursing and birthing imagery in 1 Thess 2:7b–8, 1 Cor 3:1–3, and Gal 4:19 is a surprising choice for the apostle who seems to disregard his own advice elsewhere about needing to “act like men” (ἀνδρίζομαι, 1 Cor 16:13). Paul’s metaphorical maternal performances have generated numerous gendered readings but have yet to be explored collectively through the lens of masculinity studies. In doing so, and by paying attention to the ways in which the metaphors differ, Paul’s shifting maternity reflects a shifting masculinity. Earliest in their infancy appear to be the Galatians, still in the process of being delivered via a painful labour. Next are the Thessalonians, early on in their new journey as Christ-followers but delighting Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy who long to be with them and nurse them. Finally, there are the needy Corinthians who have yet to move on from milk and still require breastfeeding. Paul’s authority, and in turn his masculinity, is nuanced differently in each of these texts.
{"title":"The Apostle Paul’s Maternal Masculinity","authors":"Grace Emmett","doi":"10.1080/2222582X.2020.1850205","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2222582X.2020.1850205","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract What are we to make of Paul’s use of nursing and birthing as metaphors to describe his dealings with some of the earliest churches? The appropriation of nursing and birthing imagery in 1 Thess 2:7b–8, 1 Cor 3:1–3, and Gal 4:19 is a surprising choice for the apostle who seems to disregard his own advice elsewhere about needing to “act like men” (ἀνδρίζομαι, 1 Cor 16:13). Paul’s metaphorical maternal performances have generated numerous gendered readings but have yet to be explored collectively through the lens of masculinity studies. In doing so, and by paying attention to the ways in which the metaphors differ, Paul’s shifting maternity reflects a shifting masculinity. Earliest in their infancy appear to be the Galatians, still in the process of being delivered via a painful labour. Next are the Thessalonians, early on in their new journey as Christ-followers but delighting Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy who long to be with them and nurse them. Finally, there are the needy Corinthians who have yet to move on from milk and still require breastfeeding. Paul’s authority, and in turn his masculinity, is nuanced differently in each of these texts.","PeriodicalId":40708,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Early Christian History","volume":"11 1","pages":"15 - 37"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/2222582X.2020.1850205","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41827038","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-01DOI: 10.1080/2222582x.2020.1785905
John-Christian Eurell
Abstract The origin of the designation χριστιανός is ambiguous. In this article, the use of this term is studied with special emphasis on how it reflects the self- understanding of the early Christians in the respective texts. In the late first and early second centuries, the term appears to have been something of a title of honour and an ideal which Christ-believers wished to attain. Toward the end of the second century, χριστιανός was somewhat diluted into referring to Christians as a group in general.
摘要χριστιαν ο ς名称的起源是不明确的。在这篇文章中，这个术语的使用是研究，特别强调它如何反映自我理解的早期基督徒在各自的文本。在第一世纪末和第二世纪初，这个词似乎是一种荣誉称号，是基督信徒希望达到的理想。到了二世纪末，χριστιαν ο ς在某种程度上被淡化为泛指基督徒群体。
{"title":"Becoming Christian: On the Identification of Christ-Believers as Χριστιανοί","authors":"John-Christian Eurell","doi":"10.1080/2222582x.2020.1785905","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2222582x.2020.1785905","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The origin of the designation χριστιανός is ambiguous. In this article, the use of this term is studied with special emphasis on how it reflects the self- understanding of the early Christians in the respective texts. In the late first and early second centuries, the term appears to have been something of a title of honour and an ideal which Christ-believers wished to attain. Toward the end of the second century, χριστιανός was somewhat diluted into referring to Christians as a group in general.","PeriodicalId":40708,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Early Christian History","volume":"10 1","pages":"64 - 82"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/2222582x.2020.1785905","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42639108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-01DOI: 10.1080/2222582X.2020.1845572
Luis Josué Salés
Abstract Early Christian women martyrs have been studied from several angles, including especially critical readings that underscore their narrative masculinisation through various representational devices. I call this approach the “compulsory masculinisation thesis.” Accordingly, scholars have largely understood the martyrological narrative as a process of masculinisation of the female martyr that is often attributed substantive reifying force. I suggest, instead, that a series of changes in the apparatus of Roman sexual difference during the early imperial era complicate this picture. I argue, instead, that the female martyrs in view here, Blandina, Perpetua, and Febronia, were not masculinised in any substantive way, but rather were queered in their femininity as a strategy of subverting Roman gender systems through a logic of Christification that defies stable categorisation.
{"title":"Queerly Christified Bodies: Women Martyrs, Christification, and the Compulsory Masculinisation Thesis","authors":"Luis Josué Salés","doi":"10.1080/2222582X.2020.1845572","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/2222582X.2020.1845572","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Early Christian women martyrs have been studied from several angles, including especially critical readings that underscore their narrative masculinisation through various representational devices. I call this approach the “compulsory masculinisation thesis.” Accordingly, scholars have largely understood the martyrological narrative as a process of masculinisation of the female martyr that is often attributed substantive reifying force. I suggest, instead, that a series of changes in the apparatus of Roman sexual difference during the early imperial era complicate this picture. I argue, instead, that the female martyrs in view here, Blandina, Perpetua, and Febronia, were not masculinised in any substantive way, but rather were queered in their femininity as a strategy of subverting Roman gender systems through a logic of Christification that defies stable categorisation.","PeriodicalId":40708,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Early Christian History","volume":"10 1","pages":"83 - 109"},"PeriodicalIF":0.6,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/2222582X.2020.1845572","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49518133","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：