Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient ChristianityEarly Christians used charges of adultery, incest, and lascivious behavior to demonize their opponents, police insiders, resist pagan rulers, and define what it meant to be a Christian. Christians frequently claimed that they, and they alone were sexually virtuous, comparing themselves to those marked as outsiders, especially non-believers and "heretics," who were said to be controlled by lust and unable to rein in their carnal desires. True or not, these charges allowed Christians to present themselves as different from and morally superior to those around them. Through careful, innovative readings, Jennifer Knust explores the writings of Paul, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus of Lyons, and other early Christian authors who argued that Christ alone made self-mastery possible. Rejection of Christ led to both immoral sexual behavior and, ultimately, alienation and punishment from God. Knust considers how Christian writers participated in a long tradition of rhetorical invective, a rhetoric that was often employed to defend status and difference. Christians borrowed, deployed, and reconfigured classical rhetorical techniques, turning them against their rulers to undercut their moral and political authority. Knust also examines the use of accusations of licentiousness in conflicts between rival groups of Christians. Portraying rival sects as depraved allowed accusers to claim their own group as representative of "true Christianity." Knust's book also reveals the ways in which sexual slurs and their use in early Christian writings reflected cultural and gendered assumptions about what constituted purity, morality, and truth. In doing so, Abandoned to Lust highlights the complex interrelationships between sex, gender, and sexuality within the classical, biblical, and early-Christian traditions. |
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Page 3
... intercourse with his sisters or that the heretical Simonian Christians collected seminal emission and menstrual blood for religious purposes.14 As we now know, the American president in fact did have sexual relations with “that woman ...
... intercourse with his sisters or that the heretical Simonian Christians collected seminal emission and menstrual blood for religious purposes.14 As we now know, the American president in fact did have sexual relations with “that woman ...
Page 5
... intercourse in a public latrine; Aeschines (allegedly) imitated her example by involving himself in suspect religious rituals, wearing exotic apparel, and associating with old women.27 Writing some five hundred years later, the Roman ...
... intercourse in a public latrine; Aeschines (allegedly) imitated her example by involving himself in suspect religious rituals, wearing exotic apparel, and associating with old women.27 Writing some five hundred years later, the Roman ...
Page 23
... intercourse in a public latrine. He was brought up to excel in minor parts on the stage (129). His servile origin and lack of means led him to accept menial and degrading occupations (258). He possesses a spiteful temper, demonstrated ...
... intercourse in a public latrine. He was brought up to excel in minor parts on the stage (129). His servile origin and lack of means led him to accept menial and degrading occupations (258). He possesses a spiteful temper, demonstrated ...
Page 25
... intercourse. By its ever-flowing, foul stream every street is widened; for it [Rome] brings in adultery, greed, false testimony and the whole family of the pleasures, and the soul, flooded from every side, is laid bare of modesty ...
... intercourse. By its ever-flowing, foul stream every street is widened; for it [Rome] brings in adultery, greed, false testimony and the whole family of the pleasures, and the soul, flooded from every side, is laid bare of modesty ...
Page 33
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Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity Jennifer Wright Knust Limited preview - 2006 |
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According accused Acts adopted adultery ancient angels Apol argues argument associated become behavior biblical body called chapter charges Christ church claims Compare Corinthians corrupt cultural demons described desire discussion Early Christian elite emperor empire especially evidence example faith false father female flesh followers further gender gentiles God’s gods Greek Haer heresies heretics History honor important intercourse Irenaeus Israel Jewish Jews Jude Justin later letter licentiousness live lust male marriage masters means moral nature notes observed offered origin Oxford passions Paul Paul’s Persians Peter Philo philosophers Politics porneia position practices prophets prostitutes punishment refer regarding rejected remain rhetorical Roman Rome rulers sexual Shepherd similar slaves sought sources speech spirit status Studies suggests tradition translation true University Press vice virgins virtue woman women writings York