Virgin Territory: Configuring Female Virginity in Early Christianity

Virgin Territory: Configuring Female Virginity in Early Christianity
ISBN-10
0520389026
ISBN-13
9780520389021
Series
Virgin Territory
Category
Religion
Pages
290
Language
English
Published
2022-12-13
Publisher
Univ of California Press
Author
Julia Kelto Lillis

Description

Women's virginity held tremendous significance in early Christianity and the Mediterranean world. Early Christian thinkers developed diverse definitions of virginity and understood its bodily aspects in surprising, often nonanatomical ways. Eventually Christians took part in a cross-cultural shift toward viewing virginity as something that could be perceived in women's sex organs. Treating virginity as anatomical brought both benefits and costs. By charting this change and situating it in the larger landscape of ancient thought, Virgin Territory illuminates unrecognized differences among early Christian sources and historicizes problematic ideas about women's bodies that still persist today.

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