Overview
"This book provides an original and rewarding context for understanding the prolific fourth-century Christian theologian John Chrysostom and the religious and social world in which he lived. Blake Leyerle analyzes two highly rhetorical treatises by this early church father attacking the phenomenon of ""spiritual marriage."" Spiritual marriage was an ascetic practice with a long history in which a man and a woman lived together in an intimate relationship without sex. What begins as an analysis of Chrysostom's attack on spiritual marriage becomes a broad investigation into Chrysostom's life and work, the practice of spiritual marriage itself, the role of the theater in late antique city life, and the early history of Christianity. Though thoroughly grounded in the texts themselves and in the cultural history of late antiquity, this study breaks new ground with its focus on issues of rhetoric, sexuality, and power. Leyerle argues that Chrysostom used images and tropes drawn from the theater to persuade religious men and women that spiritual marriage was wrong. In addition to her analysis of the significance of the rhetorical strategies used by Chrysostom, Leyerle gives a thorough discussion of the role of the theater in late antiquity, particularly in Antioch, one of the gems among late antique cities. She also discusses gender in the context of late antique religion, shedding new light on early Christian attitudes toward sexuality. Throughout Leyerle weaves an ongoing conversation with contemporary theory in film and gender studies that gives her study an important analytic dimension."
Full Product Details
Author: Blake Leyerle
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.50cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.544kg
ISBN: 9780520215580
ISBN 10: 0520215583
Pages: 259
Publication Date: 28 July 2001
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
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Reviews
"""[Leyerle] takes the stubbornly conservative field of Chrysostom research down a much needed new path. Here contemporary theoretical approaches are applied in an effort to further elucidate the late antique past, particularly that feature so characteristic of the second half of the fourth century and which looms large in Chrysostom's writings, asceticism. . . . Her chapters on the late antique theater and on the realities of spiritual marriage are extremely useful, and her analysis of the rhetorical thrust of the treatises are masterly. . . . [This book] provides a considerable advancement in our understanding of Chrysostom's treatises on spiritual marriage, as well as a much needed stimulus for the application of contemporary methodologies to Chrysostom's writings.""--Wendy Mayer, Journal of Early Christian Studies"
[Leyerle] takes the stubbornly conservative field of Chrysostom research down a much needed new path. Here contemporary theoretical approaches are applied in an effort to further elucidate the late antique past, particularly that feature so characteristic of the second half of the fourth century and which looms large in Chrysostom's writings, asceticism. . . . Her chapters on the late antique theater and on the realities of spiritual marriage are extremely useful, and her analysis of the rhetorical thrust of the treatises are masterly. . . . [This book] provides a considerable advancement in our understanding of Chrysostom's treatises on spiritual marriage, as well as a much needed stimulus for the application of contemporary methodologies to Chrysostom's writings. --Wendy Mayer, Journal of Early Christian Studies
Author Information
Blake Leyerle is Associate Professor in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.
