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. |
From inside the book
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Page 5
... practice of charging one's intended victim with sexual misbehavior can be read as part of a rhetorical tradition extending back as least as far as fourth - century Athens . For example , in his famous speech De Corona , the Athenian ...
... practice of charging one's intended victim with sexual misbehavior can be read as part of a rhetorical tradition extending back as least as far as fourth - century Athens . For example , in his famous speech De Corona , the Athenian ...
Page 6
... practice in ancient polemics, and similar charges were deployed both against Christians and by Chris- tians. Still, however widespread and stereotypical, charges of sexual misbe- havior were hardly “mere rhetoric.” Intended to malign ...
... practice in ancient polemics, and similar charges were deployed both against Christians and by Chris- tians. Still, however widespread and stereotypical, charges of sexual misbe- havior were hardly “mere rhetoric.” Intended to malign ...
Page 7
... practice that was interpreted as atheism and misanthropy by their neighbors. “Such people” (the Christians) can be ex- pected to be guilty of all sorts of moral and religious crimes. From out-of- control lust to incest and the ritual ...
... practice that was interpreted as atheism and misanthropy by their neighbors. “Such people” (the Christians) can be ex- pected to be guilty of all sorts of moral and religious crimes. From out-of- control lust to incest and the ritual ...
Page 8
... practices , Phyllis Bird disagrees . She comments : “ while prostitutes may have had functions at times in the ... practice present throughout the Hebrew Bible rather than a report about Canaanite religious ritual . In other words , the ...
... practices , Phyllis Bird disagrees . She comments : “ while prostitutes may have had functions at times in the ... practice present throughout the Hebrew Bible rather than a report about Canaanite religious ritual . In other words , the ...
Page 11
... practice, immoral- ity? Those raised on a steady diet of the theory that only a good man can truly be king could offer only one answer: he cannot. Nevertheless, by employing sexual slander to define themselves and, possibly, undermine ...
... practice, immoral- ity? Those raised on a steady diet of the theory that only a good man can truly be king could offer only one answer: he cannot. Nevertheless, by employing sexual slander to define themselves and, possibly, undermine ...
Other editions - View all
Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity Jennifer Wright Knust Limited preview - 2006 |
Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity Jennifer Wright Knust No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
According accused adultery Aeschines ancient angels Antony apostles argues argument Athenagoras Augustus Bauckham behavior biblical Caligula Cambridge Castelli charges Christ Christian authors church Cicero claims Commentary Corinthians corrupt defile demons Demosthenes depravity desire Dial discourse discussion Early Christian elite emperor empire Enoch enslaved Epistle Epistle of Jude example faith false Christians false prophets false teachers father female flesh followers fornication Fortress Press gender genos gentiles Gnostic God’s Greek Haer heresies Heresiology heretics Herm Homosexuality honor immorality intercourse invective Iren Irenaeus Isocrates Israel Jewish Jews Jude Judean Justin 1 Apol Justin Martyr letter licentiousness lust male Marcus marriage moral Musonius Rufus offered one’s opponents passions Paul Paul’s Peter Philo philosophers Plut Plutarch polemic porneia prostitutes punishment rhetorical Roman Rome rulers self-control self-mastery sexual slander Shepherd of Hermas Simon slavery slaves status Suetonius suggests Tatian Tertullian Testament tradition translation vice virgins virtue wicked woman women