A study of how women figured in public reaction to the church from New Testament times to the second century CE. MacDonald shows the conviction of pagan writers that female initiative was central to Christianity's development, and the belief that women inclined toward excesses in religion. Concern in the New Testament and early Christian texts about the respectability of women is seen in a new light when one appreciates that outsiders focused on early church women and their activities as a reflection of the group as a whole.
| |||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"This sensitively written and subtly argues book sheds new light on the position of women in early Christianity by investigating the stereotypes of Christian women purveyed in pagan and early Christian texts through the lens of social-scientific models of gender relations." University of Toronto Quarterly
"Recommended both for the educated reader and the scholar of Christian origins." Sara C. Winter, Religious Studies Review
"This book will be of particular interest to early-Christian scholars working on women and/or on Christianity and pagan culture as well as to scholars studying women and religion." Susan A. Calef, Journal of Religion
"...MacDonald...has raised a very important question in the study of early Christianity, one that should continue to be pursued." Carolyn Osiek, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
"MacDonald has helped us to understand new dimensions of these tensions, and she has done so in a balanced and nuanced way that one can only admire." Peter Richardson, Studies in Relgion
"MacDonald writes a provocative inquiry into the interaction between women in earliest Christianity and the restraints and opportunities afforded them in Greco-Roman society. The volume is marked by informed and carefully applied social and anthropological contructs which bear on an analysis of religions in the first centuries C.E. Original lines of investigations are pursued, and some intriguing conclusions are offered to the reader. This book is a welcome addition to the academic study of religion and to New Testament scholarship in particular. It is cleanly edited, with helpful bibliography and serviceable index." Rollin A. Ramsarin, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
"Those interested in women's studies will, of course, welcome this book, but any student of the early Church will learn from it. ...this is a good book for scholars and lay people alike." Stephen Benko, The Catholic Historical Review
"Recommended both for the educated reader and the scholar of Christian origins." Sara C. Winter, Religious Studies Review
"This book will be of particular interest to early-Christian scholars working on women and/or on Christianity and pagan culture as well as to scholars studying women and religion." Susan A. Calef, Journal of Religion
"...MacDonald...has raised a very important question in the study of early Christianity, one that should continue to be pursued." Carolyn Osiek, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
"MacDonald has helped us to understand new dimensions of these tensions, and she has done so in a balanced and nuanced way that one can only admire." Peter Richardson, Studies in Relgion
"MacDonald writes a provocative inquiry into the interaction between women in earliest Christianity and the restraints and opportunities afforded them in Greco-Roman society. The volume is marked by informed and carefully applied social and anthropological contructs which bear on an analysis of religions in the first centuries C.E. Original lines of investigations are pursued, and some intriguing conclusions are offered to the reader. This book is a welcome addition to the academic study of religion and to New Testament scholarship in particular. It is cleanly edited, with helpful bibliography and serviceable index." Rollin A. Ramsarin, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
"Those interested in women's studies will, of course, welcome this book, but any student of the early Church will learn from it. ...this is a good book for scholars and lay people alike." Stephen Benko, The Catholic Historical Review
Book Description
The respectability of women is seen in a new light when one appreciates that outsiders focused on early church women and their activities as a reflection of the group as a whole. This text reveals the conviction of pagan writers that female initiative was central to Christianity's development.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
New Insights into the women of early Christianity,
By
This review is from: Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion: The Power of the Hysterical Woman (Paperback)
MacDonald's book is wonderful in the way she picks up on clues that had been passed over before. By examining Christian texts and texts that criticized Christianity, we are able to find out what were the concerns of society in the first two centuries in regard to Christian women. She did a wonderful job in using socio-cultural anthropology and careful exegetical examination of the texts. It is a learned book yet easy to read that does not go into any extremes but simply makes an honest assessment of women's contributions in early Christianity. MacDonald's contributions are subtle points but have a great impact on the views and mindset of anyone studying early Christianity.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
The following constitutes an examination of the comments of second-century pagan authors who refer specifically to early Christian women. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
unchaste husband, quiet evangelists, early church women, early church texts, pagan critique, cultural acknowledgment, pagan criticism, celibate women, conversionist sect, pagan households, endogamy rules, pagan critics, pagan opinion, early church members, female initiative, ascetic teaching, pagan husband, marriage teaching, public meals, believing woman, women prophets, female deacons, women holy, hostile public opinion Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Pastoral Epistles, New Testament, Pagan Rome, Mary Magdalene, New York, Ignatius of Antioch, Asia Minor, Lucian of Samosata, Marcus Cornelius Fronto, Lucius Apuleius, Pauline Christianity, Urban Christians, Biblical Social Values, Minucius Felix, Corinthian Women Prophets, First Epistle, Jesus the Magician, Clement of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, Mary Douglas, Private Women, Second Apology, John Chrysostom, Peter Brown, Shepherd of Hermas New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The following constitutes an examination of the comments of second-century pagan authors who refer specifically to early Christian women. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
unchaste husband, quiet evangelists, early church women, early church texts, pagan critique, cultural acknowledgment, pagan criticism, celibate women, conversionist sect, pagan households, endogamy rules, pagan critics, pagan opinion, early church members, female initiative, ascetic teaching, pagan husband, marriage teaching, public meals, believing woman, women prophets, female deacons, women holy, hostile public opinion Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Pastoral Epistles, New Testament, Pagan Rome, Mary Magdalene, New York, Ignatius of Antioch, Asia Minor, Lucian of Samosata, Marcus Cornelius Fronto, Lucius Apuleius, Pauline Christianity, Urban Christians, Biblical Social Values, Minucius Felix, Corinthian Women Prophets, First Epistle, Jesus the Magician, Clement of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, Mary Douglas, Private Women, Second Apology, John Chrysostom, Peter Brown, Shepherd of Hermas New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
See all 100 books this book cites
24
books
cite this book:
See all 24 books citing this book
- The Pauline Churches: A Socio-Historical Study of Institutionalization in the Pauline and Deutrero-Pauline Writings (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series) by Margaret Y. MacDonald on 12 pages
- In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins by Elisabeth Fiorenza on 8 pages
- Roman Women: Their History and Habits by John Percy Vyvian Dacre Balsdon on 8 pages
- Women in Roman Law and Society (Midland Book) by Jane F. Gardner on 6 pages
- Greece and Rome (Metropolitan Museum of Art Series) by Joan R. Mertens on 4 pages
See all 100 books this book cites
- A Woman's Place: House Churches in Earliest Christianity by Carolyn Osiek on 4 pages
- Colossians and Ephesians (Sacra Pagina Series) by Margaret Y. MacDonald in Front Matter, and page 177
- Women and Christian Origins by Ross Shepard Kraemer on page 218, and page 252
- Her Master's Tools?: Feminist And Postcolonial Engagements of Historical-Critical Discourse (Global Perspectives on Biblical Scholarship) by et al Caroline Vander Stichele (Editor) on page 287, and Back Matter
- Shenoute and the Women of the White Monastery: Egyptian Monasticism in Late Antiquity by Rebecca Krawiec in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 24 books citing this book
Books on Related Topics
(learn more)
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
