The Rape of Eve : the Transformation of Roman Ideology in Three Early Christian Retellings of Genesis / Celene Lillie.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lillie, Celene, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Eve (Biblical figure).

Eve.

Apocryphon of John--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Apocryphon of John.

Hypostasis of the Archons--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Hypostasis of the Archons.

On the origin of the world--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

On the origin of the world.

Rape--Rome.

Rape.

Gnosticism.

Rape in the Bible.

Rape--Civilization.

Civilization.

Physical Description:

xiv, 349 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis [Minnesota] : Fortress Press, [2017]

©2017.

Summary:

Sex, violence, power, and redemption. In recent decades, scholars of New Testament and early Christian traditions have given new attention to the relationships between gender and imperial power in the Roman world. In this surprising work, Celene Lillie examines core passages from three Gnostic texts from Nag Hammadi, On the Origin of the World, The Reality of the Rulers, and the Secret Revelation of John, in which Eve is portrayed as having been humiliated by the cosmic powers, yet experiencing restoration. Lillie compares that pattern with Gnostic savior motifs concerning Jesus and Seth, then sets it in the broader context of Roman cosmogonic myths at play in imperial ideology. The Nag Hammadi texts, she argues, offer us a window into symbolic forms of Christian resistance to imperial ideology. This groundbreaking study highlights the importance of the Nag Hammadi writings for our fuller appreciation of the currents of Christian response to the Roman Empire and the culture of rape pervasive within it.

Contents:

Introduction

1. "The king gave the sign to assault their spoils ..." : the mytho-logic of rape, marriage, and conquest

2. "One loves, the other flees ..."

3. "And they lusted after her ..." : the rape of Eve and the violation of the rulers

4. "And so they convicted themselves ..." : the rulers and resistance

5. "But she could not be grasped ..." : thinking through the rape of Eve

Epilogue.

Notes:

Revision of the author's thesis (doctoral)--Union Theological Seminary, 2016, titled The rulers' rape of Eve : sexual violence and subjugation, transformation and resistance in Roman history, myth, and three retellings of Genesis 1-6.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 311-335) and indexes.

ISBN:

9781506423364

1506423361

OCLC:

960296179

Publisher Number:

99971605325