Queering the Ethiopian eunuch : strategies of ambiguity in Acts

Were Eunuchs More Usually Castrated Guardians Of The Harem, As Florid Orientalist Portraits Imagine Them, Or Were They Trusted Court Officials Who May Never Have Been Castrated? Was The Ethiopian Eunuch A Jew Or A Gentile, A Slave Or A Free Man? Why Does Luke Call Him A Man While Contemporaries Referred To Eunuchs As Unmanned Beings? As Sean D. Burke Treats Questions That Have Received Dramatically Different Answers Over The Centuries Of Christian Interpretation, He Shows That Eunuchs Bore Particular Stereotyped Associations Regarding Gender And Sexual Status As Well As Of Race, Ethnicity, And Class. Not Only Has Luke Failed To Resolve These Ambiguities; He Has Positioned This Destabilized Figure At A Key Place In The Narrativeas The Gospel Has Expanded Beyond Judea, But Before Gentiles Are Explicitly Named In Such A Way As To Blur A Number Of Social Role Boundaries. In This Sense, Burke Argues, Luke Intended To Queer His Readers Expectations And So To Present The Boundary-transgressing Potentiality Of A New Community -- Publisher Description. The Meaning Of Eunuch -- Queer Theory -- Ancient Masculinities -- Eunuchs -- Queering Acts Sean D. Burke. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 153-183) And Indexes. "Were eunuchs castrated guardians of the harem, or were they trusted court officials who may never have been castrated? Was the Ethiopian eunuch a Jew or a Gentile, a slave or a free man? Why does Luke call him a "man" while contemporaries referred to eunuchs as "unmanned" beings? Examining a volatile figure in a key place in the narrative of Luke-Acts, Sean D. Burke pulls at questions that have received dramatically different answers over the centuries of Christian interpretation, showing that eunuchs bore particular stereotyped associations regarding gender and sexual status as well as of race, ethnicity, and class. In this innovative book, Burke argues that Luke intended to "queer" his readers expectations to present the boundary-transgressing potentiality of a new community."--Page 4 of cover. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 6 Introduction......Page 8 1. The Meaning of Eunuch......Page 26 2. Queer Theory......Page 46 3. Ancient Masculinities......Page 74 4. Eunuchs......Page 102 5. Queering Acts......Page 130 6. Conclusions......Page 156 Bibliography......Page 160 Index of Names......Page 192 Index of Biblical References and Ancient Literature......Page 196