Early Christian women and pagan opinion : the power of the hysterical woman / Margaret Y. MacDonald.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

MacDonald, Margaret Y.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Women in Christianity--History--Early church, ca. 30-600.

Women in Christianity.

History.

Christianity and other religions--Greek.

Christianity and other religions.

Christianity and other religions--Roman.

Church history--Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600.

Church history.

Church history--Primitive and early church.

Physical Description:

xiv, 276 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Summary:

This is a study of how women figured in public reaction to the church from New Testament times to Christianity's encounter with the pagan critics of the second century CE. The reference to a hysterical woman was made by the most prolific critic of Christianity, Celsus, and he meant a follower of Jesus, probably Mary Magdalene, who was at the centre of efforts to create and promote belief in the resurrection. MacDonald draws attention to the conviction, emerging from the works of several pagan authors, that female initiative was central to Christianity's development; she sets out to explore the relationship between this and the common Greco-Roman belief that women were inclined towards excesses in matters of religion. The findings of cultural anthropologists of Mediterranean societies are examined in an effort to probe the societal values that shaped public opinion and early church teaching. Concerns expressed in New Testament and early Christian texts about the respectability of women, and even generally about their behaviour, are seen in a new light when one appreciates that outsiders focused on early church women and understood their activities as a reflection of the nature of the group as a whole.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-271) and index.

ISBN:

0521561744

0521567289

OCLC:

33898876