Borderline Virginities

Sacred and Secular Virgins in Late Antiquity

Nonfiction, History, Ancient History
Cover of the book Borderline Virginities by Sissel Undheim, Taylor and Francis
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Sissel Undheim ISBN: 9781317173137
Publisher: Taylor and Francis Publication: July 28, 2017
Imprint: Routledge Language: English
Author: Sissel Undheim
ISBN: 9781317173137
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Publication: July 28, 2017
Imprint: Routledge
Language: English

How and why did virginity come to play such a crucial part in the Christian Church in the formative and defining period of Late Antiquity? Sissel Undheim analyzes the negotiations over what constituted virginity and assesses its socio-religious value in fourth-century Rome by looking at those at the very margins of virginity and non-virginity. The Church Fathers’ efforts to demarcate an exclusively Christian virginity, in contrast to the ‘false virgins’ of their pagan adversaries, displays a tension that, it is argued, played a larger role in the construction of a specifically Christian sacred virginity than previous studies have acknowledged.

Late fourth-century Christian theologians’ persistent appraisals of sacred virgins paved the way for a wide variety of virgins that often challenged the stereotype of the unmarried female virgin. The sources abound with seemingly paradoxical virgins, such as widow virgins, married virgins, virgin mothers, infant virgins, old virgins, heretical virgins, pagan virgins, male virgins, false virgins and fallen virgins. Through examining these kinds of ‘borderline virgins’ as they appear in a range of textual sources from varied genres, Undheim demonstrates how physical, cultural and cognitive boundaries of virginity were contested, drawn and redrawn in the fourth and early fifth centuries in the Latin West.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

How and why did virginity come to play such a crucial part in the Christian Church in the formative and defining period of Late Antiquity? Sissel Undheim analyzes the negotiations over what constituted virginity and assesses its socio-religious value in fourth-century Rome by looking at those at the very margins of virginity and non-virginity. The Church Fathers’ efforts to demarcate an exclusively Christian virginity, in contrast to the ‘false virgins’ of their pagan adversaries, displays a tension that, it is argued, played a larger role in the construction of a specifically Christian sacred virginity than previous studies have acknowledged.

Late fourth-century Christian theologians’ persistent appraisals of sacred virgins paved the way for a wide variety of virgins that often challenged the stereotype of the unmarried female virgin. The sources abound with seemingly paradoxical virgins, such as widow virgins, married virgins, virgin mothers, infant virgins, old virgins, heretical virgins, pagan virgins, male virgins, false virgins and fallen virgins. Through examining these kinds of ‘borderline virgins’ as they appear in a range of textual sources from varied genres, Undheim demonstrates how physical, cultural and cognitive boundaries of virginity were contested, drawn and redrawn in the fourth and early fifth centuries in the Latin West.

More books from Taylor and Francis

Cover of the book A Corpus Study of Collocation in Chinese Learner English by Sissel Undheim
Cover of the book The Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology by Sissel Undheim
Cover of the book Latin America, Its Problems And Its Promise by Sissel Undheim
Cover of the book Perceptual Development in Early Infancy by Sissel Undheim
Cover of the book Public Policy and the Old Age Revolution in Japan by Sissel Undheim
Cover of the book State and Society in China's Democratic Transition by Sissel Undheim
Cover of the book The Trial of Jeanne d'Arc (Routledge Revivals) by Sissel Undheim
Cover of the book Regionalism in South Asia by Sissel Undheim
Cover of the book The History of the Study of Landforms: Volume 1 - Geomorphology Before Davis (Routledge Revivals) by Sissel Undheim
Cover of the book Education (RLE Edu L Sociology of Education) by Sissel Undheim
Cover of the book Boosting Competitiveness Through Decentralization by Sissel Undheim
Cover of the book The Intersection of International Achievement Testing and Educational Policy by Sissel Undheim
Cover of the book Asian Media Productions by Sissel Undheim
Cover of the book Mao, Stalin and the Korean War by Sissel Undheim
Cover of the book Thicker Than Water by Sissel Undheim
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy