Reading renunciation : asceticism and Scripture in early Christianity / Elizabeth A. Clark.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clark, Elizabeth A. (Elizabeth Ann), 1938-2021.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Asceticism--History--Early church, ca. 30-600.

Asceticism.

Bible--Criticism, interpretation, etc--History--Early church, ca. 30-600.

Bible.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (437 pages)

Edition:

Core Textbook

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c1999.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

A study of how asceticism was promoted through Biblical interpretation, Reading Renunciation uses contemporary literary theory to unravel the writing strategies of the early Christian authors. Not a general discussion of early Christian teachings on celibacy and marriage, the book is a close examination, in the author's words, of how "the Fathers' axiology of abstinence informed their interpretation of Scriptural texts and incited the production of ascetic meaning." Elizabeth Clark begins with a survey of scholarship concerning early Christian asceticism that is designed to orient the nonspecialist. Section Two is organized around potentially troubling issues posed by Old Testament texts that demanded skillful handling by ascetically inclined Christian exegetes. The third section, "Reading Paul," focuses on the hermeneutical problems raised by I Corinthians 7, and the Deutero-Pauline and Pastoral Epistles. Elizabeth Clark's remarkable work will be of interest to scholars of late antiquity, religion, literary theory, and history.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Abbreviation List

CHAPTER ONE. Introduction

CHAPTER TWO. Asceticism in Late Ancient Christianity

CHAPTER THREE. Reading in the Early Christian World

CHAPTER FOUR. The Profits and Perils of Figurative Exegesis

CHAPTER FIVE. Exegetical and Rhetorical Strategies for Ascetic Reading

CHAPTER SIX. Three Models of Reading Renunciation

CHAPTER SEVEN. From Reproduction to Defamilialization

CHAPTER EIGHT. From Ritual to Askēsis

CHAPTER NINE. The Exegesis of Divorce

CHAPTER TEN. I Corinthians 7 in Early Christian Exegesis

CHAPTER ELEVEN. From Paul to the Pastorals

Afterword

Bibliography

Select Index of Biblical Passages

Select General Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [375]-400) and indexes.

ISBN:

9786612753770

9781400801220

1400801222

9781400801237

1400801230

9781282753778

1282753770

9781400823185

1400823188

9781400811243

1400811244

OCLC:

705527082