Examples of sexual violence and mentions of it appear with a disturbing level of frequency in the literature of early Christianity. This collection of essays explores these occurrences in canonical and noncanonical Christian texts from the first until the fifth centuries CE. Drawing from a range of interpretive lenses, scholars of early Christianity approach these writings with the goal of identifying how their authors employ the language of sexual assault, rape, and violence in order to formulate and support various rhetorical and theological claims. Individual chapters also address how and why these episodes of sexual violence have been ignored or, sometimes, read in a way that would make them less problematic. As a collection, Sex, Violence, and Early Christian Texts examines these texts carefully, ethically, and with an eye toward shining a light on the scourge of sexual violence that is so often manifest in both ancient and contemporary Christian communities.
Christy Cobb is assistant professor of Christianity at University of Denver. Eric Vanden Eykel is associate professor of religious studies at Ferrum College in Virginia.
Introduction Christy Cobb and Eric Vanden Eykel 1. Sexual Slander and Moral Supremacy in the Elenchos Tara Baldrick-Morrone 2. Danaids and Dirces in Roman Corinth: Sexualized Violence and Imperial Spectacle in 1 Clement Chance E. Bonar 3. Euclia's Story: Coordinated Sexual Assault, Violence, and Willfulness in the Acts of Andrew" Christy Cobb 4. "Guardians of Chastity and Companions in Suffering": The Didactic and Rhetorical Function of Rape Threats in Ambrose of Milan Jennifer Collins-Elliott 5. Corinthian Concerns and Textual Assault Arminta Fox 6. Sexual Violence, Martyrdom, and Enslavement in Augustine's Letter 111 Midori Hartman 7. Virginity, Bestiality, and Virtue in Sozomen's Account of the Attack of the Consecrated Virgins of Heliopolis LaToya M. Leary Francis 8. Tertullian of Carthage, Sexualized Violence, and the "Abjection" of the Female Flesh Travis W. Proctor 9. Paul Trading Barbs: Sexual Invective as Gendered Violence Joshua M. Reno 10. Ambivalent Wedding Imagery in Matthew's Jerusalem Narrative Laura Robinson 11. Virgin Acts: Blinding, Castration, & the Violence of Male Chastity Jeannie Sellick 12. Assaulting the Virgin: How the Protevangelium of James Hides Sexual Violence Eric Vanden Eykel 13. Five Husbands: Slut-Shaming the Samaritan Woman Meredith J. C. Warren 14. Revelation Naturalizes Sexual Violence and Readers Erase It: Unveiling the Son of God's Rape of Jezebel Stephen Young About the Contributors
