Situated in a period that witnessed the genesis of institutions that have lasted to this day, this path-breaking study looks at how ancient Christian women, particularly in Asia Minor and Egypt, initiated ascetic ways of living, and how these practices were then institutionalized. Susanna Elm demonstrates that--in direct contrast to later conceptions--asceticism began primarly as an urban movement, in which women were significant protagonists. In the process, they completely transformed and expanded their roles as wife, mother, or widow: as Christian ascetics, they became `virgin wives', `virgin mothers', and `virgin widows' - with all the legal and economic implications of such a dramatic shift. As importantly, though, Christian men and women ascetics lived together. As `virgins of God' they created new families `in Christ'. No longer determined by their human bonds or human sexuality, they were `neither male nor female'. Finally, the book demonstrates how ascetic bishops - today known as saints - eventually `reformed' these early models of communal, ascetic life by dividing the `virgins of God' into monks and nuns and thus laid the foundation for the monasticism we know today.
| ISBN: | 9780198150442 |
| Publication date: | 25th January 1996 |
| Author: | Susanna Assistant Professor of History, Assistant Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley Elm |
| Publisher: | Clarendon Press an imprint of Oxford University Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 462 pages |
| Series: | Oxford Classical Monographs |
| Genres: |
Christianity History of religion Philosophy: aesthetics Gender studies: women and girls History of ideas |
Situated in a period that witnessed the genesis of institutions that have lasted to this day, this path-breaking study looks at how ancient Christian women, particularly in Asia Minor and Egypt, initiated ascetic ways of living, and how these practices were then institutionalized. Susanna Elm demonstrates that--in direct contrast to later conceptions--asceticism began primarly as an urban movement, in which women were significant protagonists. In the process, they completely transformed and expanded their roles as wife, mother, or widow: as Christian ascetics, they became `virgin wives', `virgin mothers', and `virgin widows' - with all the legal and economic implications of such a dramatic shift. As importantly, though, Christian men and women ascetics lived together. As `virgins of God' they created new families `in Christ'. No longer determined by their human bonds or human sexuality, they were `neither male nor female'. Finally, the book demonstrates how ascetic bishops - today known as saints - eventually `reformed' these early models of communal, ascetic life by dividing the `virgins of God' into monks and nuns and thus laid the foundation for the monasticism we know today.
'Virgins of God' features in the following genres: Christianity, History of religion, Philosophy: aesthetics, Gender studies: women and girls, History of ideas
'Virgins of God' is available in Paperback
'Virgins of God' was written by Susanna Assistant Professor of History, Assistant Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley Elm and published by Clarendon Press an imprint of Oxford University Press
'Virgins of God' has 462 pages
Yes it is part of Oxford Classical Monographs series