Format:
1 Online-Ressource (290 p.)
ISBN:
9780520389021
Series Statement:
Christianity in Late Antiquity 13
Content:
Women's virginity held tremendous significance in early Christianity and the Mediterranean world. Julia Kelto Lillis demonstrates that early Christian thinkers developed diverse definitions of virginity and understood its bodily aspects in surprising, often nonanatomical ways. Eventually Christians took part in a cross-cultural shift toward viewing virginity as something that could be perceived in women's sex organs. Treating virginity as anatomical brought both benefits and costs. By charting this shift and situating it in the larger landscape of ancient thought, Virgin Territory illuminates unrecognized differences among early Christian sources and historicizes problematic ideas about women's bodies that still persist today
Note:
Frontmatter
,
CONTENTS
,
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
,
NOTES TO THE READER
,
ABBREVIATIONS FOR SERIES AND REFERENCE WORKS
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Introduction: Ancient and Present-Day Meanings for Virginity
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Part one. Virginity with and without Virginal Anatomy
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Chapter 1 Testing, Showing, and Perceiving Virginity in Antiquity
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Chapter 2 Mary’s Forms of Virginity in Early Christian Writings
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Part two. Christian Conceptualizations of Virginity in the Fourth Century
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Chapter 3 Virginity of Body and Soul: Fourth-Century Christian Configurations
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Chapter 4 Sealed Fountains: The Imagery of Fourth-Century Christian Virginity Discourse
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Part three. The Cost of Anatomized Virginity for Late Ancient Christians
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Chapter 5 Perceptible Virginity: Its Usefulness and Consequences
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Chapter 6 Augustine of Hippo and the Problem of Double Integrity
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Conclusion: Variety Persists
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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INDEX
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In English
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9780520389014
Additional Edition:
Erscheint auch als print ISBN 9780520389014
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1525/9780520389021
