Sacred Fictions: Holy Women and Hagiography in Late Antiquity (The Middle Ages Series)

late Antique And Early Medieval Hagiographic Texts Present Holy Women As Simultaneously Pious And Corrupt, Hideous And Beautiful, Exemplars Of Depravity And Models Of Sanctity. In sacred Fictions Lynda Coon Unpacks These Paradoxical Representations To Reveal The Construction And Circumscription Of Women's Roles In The Early Christian Centuries. coon Discerns Three Distinct Paradigms For Female Sanctity In Saints' Lives And Patristic And Monastic Writings. Women Are Recurrently Figured As Repentant Desert Hermits, Wealthy Widows, Or Cloistered Ascetic Nuns, And Biblical Discourse Informs The Narrative Content, Rhetorical Strategies, And Symbolic Meanings Of These Texts In Complex And Multivalent Ways. If Hagiographers Made Their Women Saints Walk On Water, Resurrect The Dead, Or Consecrate The Eucharist, They Also Curbed The Power Of Women By Teaching That The Daughters Of Eve Must Make Their Bodies Impenetrable Through Militant Chastity Or Spiritual Exile And Must Eradicate Self-indulgence Through Ascetic Attire Or Philanthropy. the Windows The Sacred Fiction Of Holy Women Open On The Past Are Far From Transparent; Driven By Both Literary Invention And Moral Imperative, The Stories They Tell Helped Shape Western Gender Constructs That Have Survived Into Modern Times. booknews the Emphasis Of This Study Is Not On The Historical Lives Of The Subject Saints, But On The Theological And Didactic Agendas Of Their Authors. Coon (history, U. Of Arkansas) Demonstrates How Women's Hagiography Teaches That The Daughters Of Eve Must Make Their Bodies Impenetrable Through Militant Chastity, Self-entombment, Spiritual Exile, Or Institutionalized Claustration; They Must Eradicate Feminine Self-indulgence Through Ascetic Attire And Philanthropy; And They Must Manifest Their Spiritual Powers In Useful Ways cleaning Altars And Miraculously Performing Domestic Chores. Annotation C. By Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Late antique and early medieval hagiographic texts present holy women as simultaneously pious and corrupt, hideous and beautiful, exemplars of depravity and models of sanctity. In Sacred Fictions Lynda Coon unpacks these paradoxical representations to reveal the construction and circumscription of women's roles in the early Christian centuries.

Coon discerns three distinct paradigms for female sanctity in saints' lives and patristic and monastic writings. Women are recurrently figured as repentant desert hermits, wealthy widows, or cloistered ascetic nuns, and biblical discourse informs the narrative content, rhetorical strategies, and symbolic meanings of these texts in complex and multivalent ways. If hagiographers made their women saints walk on water, resurrect the dead, or consecrate the Eucharist, they also curbed the power of women by teaching that the daughters of Eve must make their bodies impenetrable through militant chastity or spiritual exile and must eradicate self-indulgence through ascetic attire or philanthropy.

The windows the sacred fiction of holy women open on the past are far from transparent; driven by both literary invention and moral imperative, the stories they tell helped shape Western gender constructs that have survived into modern times.

Late antique and early medieval hagiographic texts present holy women as simultaneously pious and corrupt, hideous and beautiful, exemplars of depravity and models of sanctity. In Sacred Fictions Lynda Coon unpacks these paradoxical representations to reveal the construction and circumscription of women's roles in the early Christian centuries. Coon discerns three distinct paradigms for female sanctity in saints' lives and patristic and monastic writings. Women are recurrently figured as repentant desert hermits, wealthy widows, or cloistered ascetic nuns, and biblical discourse informs the narrative content, rhetorical strategies, and symbolic meanings of these texts in complex and multivalent ways. If hagiographers made their women saints walk on water, resurrect the dead, or consecrate the Eucharist, they also curbed the power of women by teaching that the daughters of Eve must make their bodies impenetrable through militant chastity or spiritual exile and must eradicate self-indulgence through ascetic attire or philanthropy. The windows the sacred fiction of holy women open on the past are far from transparent; driven by both literary invention and moral imperative, the stories they tell helped shape Western gender constructs that have survived into modern times. Late antique and early medieval hagiographic texts present holy women as simultaneously pious and corrupt, hideous and beautiful, examplars of depravity and models of sanctity. In Sacred Fictions Lynda Coon unpacks these paradoxial representations to reveal the construction and circumscription of women's roles in the early Christian centuries. The sacred fictions of holy women were written within the context of the institutionalization of the male priesthood and the masculinization of church worship, Coon contends. The windows they open on the past are far from transparent; driven by both literary invention and moral imperative, the stories they tell helped shape Western gender constructs that have survived into modern times. 9780812201673-1......Page 1 9780812201673-2......Page 4 9780812201673-3......Page 5 9780812201673-4......Page 8 9780812201673-5......Page 10 9780812201673-6......Page 12 9780812201673-7......Page 14 9780812201673-8......Page 26 9780812201673-9......Page 53 9780812201673-10......Page 77 9780812201673-11......Page 96 9780812201673-12......Page 120 9780812201673-13......Page 145 9780812201673-14......Page 168 9780812201673-15......Page 178 9780812201673-16......Page 228 9780812201673-17......Page 246