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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... rulers . The “ governing elite , ” as Peter Brown has suggested , must present themselves to themselves and to the world at large as “ in truth governing " ; " claims about the excellent morals of the ruling class often figure into this ...
... rulers . The “ governing elite , ” as Peter Brown has suggested , must present themselves to themselves and to the world at large as “ in truth governing " ; " claims about the excellent morals of the ruling class often figure into this ...
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... theory to Homer : Homer , in the same manner as other wise and truthful men , says that no wicked or licentious or avaricious person can ever be a ruler or mas- ter either of himself or of anybody else, nor will IO WHO'S ON TOP ?
... theory to Homer : Homer , in the same manner as other wise and truthful men , says that no wicked or licentious or avaricious person can ever be a ruler or mas- ter either of himself or of anybody else, nor will IO WHO'S ON TOP ?
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... ruler and empire alike.66 By arguing that non-Christians are depraved, ruled by the passions, and guilty of incest and adultery, Christian authors from the New Testament period onward called the authority of their rulers into question ...
... ruler and empire alike.66 By arguing that non-Christians are depraved, ruled by the passions, and guilty of incest and adultery, Christian authors from the New Testament period onward called the authority of their rulers into question ...
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... ruler—be he Octavian Augustus or Jesus, the anointed son of God—who makes possible the proper sexual behavior of his subjects. The “household codes” of later Pauline literature offer a further ex- ample. The author of 1 Timothy ...
... ruler—be he Octavian Augustus or Jesus, the anointed son of God—who makes possible the proper sexual behavior of his subjects. The “household codes” of later Pauline literature offer a further ex- ample. The author of 1 Timothy ...
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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