Members of his body : Shakespeare, Paul, and a theology of nonmonogamy / Will Stockton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stockton, Will, author.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616--Religion.

Shakespeare, William.

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.

Paul, the Apostle, Saint.

Religion.

Paul, the Apostle, Saint--In literature.

Paul.

Bible--In literature.

Bible.

Marriage in literature.

Non-monogamous relationships in literature.

Theology in literature.

Literature.

Physical Description:

vii, 178 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, 2017.

Summary:

Building on scholarship regarding both biblical and early modern sexualities, Members of His Body protests the Christian defense of marital monogamy. According to the Paul who authors 1 Corinthians, believers would do well to remain single and focus instead on the messiah's return. According to the Paul who authors Ephesians, plural marriage is the telos of Christian community. Turning to Shakespeare, Will Stockton shows how marriage functions in The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant, of Venice, Othello, and The Winter's Tale as a contested vehicle of Christian embodiment. Juxtaposing the marital theologies of the different Pauls and their later interpreters, Stockton reveals how these plays explore the racial, religious, and gender criteria for marital membership in the body of Christ. These plays further suggest that marital jealousy and paranoia about adultery result in part from a Christian theology of shared embodiment: the communication of believers in Christ. In the wake of recent arguments that expanding marriage rights to gay people will open the door to the cultural acceptance and legalization of plural marriage, Members of His Body reminds us that much Christian theology already looks forward to this end. Book jacket.

Contents:

Marriage and the body of Christ

Neither male nor female

Paul in Ephesus: self and sexual difference in the Comedy of Errors

Portia's Pauline perversion: the Merchant of Venice and Romans 1

The works of the flesh

Chaste impossibilities: adultery and individuation in Othello

The ecology of adultery: flesh, blood, and stone in the Winter's Tale

Why (again) are the utopians monogamous?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9780823275502

0823275507

9780823275519

0823275515

OCLC:

961408846