Holy Women and Men as Teachers in Late Antique Christianity
-
Maria Munkholt Christensen
and
Peter Gemeinhardt
Abstract
This article shows how the theme of education was treated in late antique hagiographical discourse. Brief references are made to two ascetic archetypes, Antony and Macrina, who are both styled in their vitae in relation to education, either by rejecting classical education or appropriating philosophy and substituting classical literature with biblical literature. On this basis the article focuses in more detail on six hagiographical texts and their protagonists, i. e. three texts primarily on men (the Life of Hypatius of Rufiniane, the saints of Theodoret of Cyrus’ Religious History and Cyril of Scythopolis’ Lives of the Monks in Palestine) and three texts on women (the Lives of Marcella, Melania the Younger, and Syncletica). Although classical education is evaluated differently in these texts, and ascetic formation takes various shapes, it is obvious that both male and female saints played a role in the discussion about the Christian appropriation of classical education as well as in the development of particular Christian ideas of formation. A correct use of education was not a hindrance for holiness, but rather a sign of ascetic wisdom. That both men and women, on a literary level, incarnated Christian teachings in their Lives, and that they were able to live and teach Christian ideals, tells us much about the ambitious transformation of education that was visualized in the ascetic literature. The hagiographical texts themselves both reflect the discussion of education and are didactic texts with the aim of establishing new norms.
© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Diskussion
- Origen in Paradise: A Response to Peter Martens
- Response to Edwards
- Artikel
- Ignatius of Antioch and Scripture
- Heracleon and the Seven Categories of Exegetical Opponents in Origen’s Commentary on the Gospel of John
- Le De quantitate animae d’Augustin, un dialogue philosophique ?
- Holy Women and Men as Teachers in Late Antique Christianity
- Review Article
- Augustinus, De Musica
- Rezension
- Noel Lenski: Constantine and the Cities: Imperial Authority and Civic Politics, Empire and After, Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania Press) 2016, 416 pp., ISBN 978-0-8122-4777-0, £ 74,–.
- Kevin Corrigan: Evagrius and Gregory: Mind, Soul and Body in the 4th Century, Ashgate Studies in Philosophy and Theology in Late Antiquity, Farnham (Ashgate) 2009 / London (Routledge) 2016, X + 256 S., ISBN 978-0-7546-1685-6, £ 120,–.
- Theodore de Bruyn: Making Amulets Christian: Artefacts, Scribes and Contexts, Oxford Early Christian Studies, Oxford (Oxford University Press) 2017, XX + 308 pp., ISBN 978-0-19-968788-6, £ 65,–.
- Paul C. Dilley: Monasteries and the Care of Souls in Late Antique Christianity: Cognition and Discipline, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2017, XII + 350 S., ISBN 978-1-107-18401-5, £ 94,99.
- Lillian I. Larsen and Samuel Rubenson (eds.): Monastic Education in Late Antiquity: The Transformation of Classical “Paideia,” Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2018, X + 399 pp., ISBN 978-1-107-19495-3, $ 120,–.
- Andrew Cain: The Greek Historia monachorum in Aegypto: Monastic Hagiography in the Late Fourth Century, Oxford Early Christian Studies, Oxford (Oxford University Press) 2016, XII + 329 S., ISBN 978-0-19-875825-9, £ 94,–.
- Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer: Das Mönchtum in der Religionspolitik Kaiser Justinians I.: Die Engel des Himmels und der Stellvertreter Gottes auf Erden, Millenium-Studien 59, Berlin (de Gruyter) 2016, XII + 386 S., ISBN 978-3-11-040943-7, € 99,95.
- Agnès Lorrain: Le commentaire de Théodoret de Cyr sur l’Épître aux Romains: Études philologiques et historiques, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 179, Berlin (de Gruyter) 2018, XVI + 392 S., ISBN 978-3-11-053788-8, € 129,95.
- Robert McEachnie: Chromatius of Aquileia and the Making of a Christian City, Routledge Studies in the Early Christian World, London (Routledge) 2017, IX + 194 S., ISBN 978-1-138-22144-4, £ 105,–.
- Aline Canellis, Hg.: Jérôme, Préfaces aux livres de la Bible: Textes latins des éditions de R. Weber et R. Gryson et de L’Abbaye Saint-Jérôme (Rome), revus et corrigés: Introduction, traduction et notes, SC 592, Paris (Cerf) 2017, 544 S., ISBN 978-2-204-12618-2, € 54,–.
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelseiten
- Diskussion
- Origen in Paradise: A Response to Peter Martens
- Response to Edwards
- Artikel
- Ignatius of Antioch and Scripture
- Heracleon and the Seven Categories of Exegetical Opponents in Origen’s Commentary on the Gospel of John
- Le De quantitate animae d’Augustin, un dialogue philosophique ?
- Holy Women and Men as Teachers in Late Antique Christianity
- Review Article
- Augustinus, De Musica
- Rezension
- Noel Lenski: Constantine and the Cities: Imperial Authority and Civic Politics, Empire and After, Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania Press) 2016, 416 pp., ISBN 978-0-8122-4777-0, £ 74,–.
- Kevin Corrigan: Evagrius and Gregory: Mind, Soul and Body in the 4th Century, Ashgate Studies in Philosophy and Theology in Late Antiquity, Farnham (Ashgate) 2009 / London (Routledge) 2016, X + 256 S., ISBN 978-0-7546-1685-6, £ 120,–.
- Theodore de Bruyn: Making Amulets Christian: Artefacts, Scribes and Contexts, Oxford Early Christian Studies, Oxford (Oxford University Press) 2017, XX + 308 pp., ISBN 978-0-19-968788-6, £ 65,–.
- Paul C. Dilley: Monasteries and the Care of Souls in Late Antique Christianity: Cognition and Discipline, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2017, XII + 350 S., ISBN 978-1-107-18401-5, £ 94,99.
- Lillian I. Larsen and Samuel Rubenson (eds.): Monastic Education in Late Antiquity: The Transformation of Classical “Paideia,” Cambridge (Cambridge University Press) 2018, X + 399 pp., ISBN 978-1-107-19495-3, $ 120,–.
- Andrew Cain: The Greek Historia monachorum in Aegypto: Monastic Hagiography in the Late Fourth Century, Oxford Early Christian Studies, Oxford (Oxford University Press) 2016, XII + 329 S., ISBN 978-0-19-875825-9, £ 94,–.
- Alexandra Hasse-Ungeheuer: Das Mönchtum in der Religionspolitik Kaiser Justinians I.: Die Engel des Himmels und der Stellvertreter Gottes auf Erden, Millenium-Studien 59, Berlin (de Gruyter) 2016, XII + 386 S., ISBN 978-3-11-040943-7, € 99,95.
- Agnès Lorrain: Le commentaire de Théodoret de Cyr sur l’Épître aux Romains: Études philologiques et historiques, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur 179, Berlin (de Gruyter) 2018, XVI + 392 S., ISBN 978-3-11-053788-8, € 129,95.
- Robert McEachnie: Chromatius of Aquileia and the Making of a Christian City, Routledge Studies in the Early Christian World, London (Routledge) 2017, IX + 194 S., ISBN 978-1-138-22144-4, £ 105,–.
- Aline Canellis, Hg.: Jérôme, Préfaces aux livres de la Bible: Textes latins des éditions de R. Weber et R. Gryson et de L’Abbaye Saint-Jérôme (Rome), revus et corrigés: Introduction, traduction et notes, SC 592, Paris (Cerf) 2017, 544 S., ISBN 978-2-204-12618-2, € 54,–.
