The Sex Lives of Saints

An Erotics of Ancient Hagiography

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity, Church, Church History, History, Ancient History
Cover of the book The Sex Lives of Saints by Virginia Burrus, University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Virginia Burrus ISBN: 9780812200720
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. Publication: August 3, 2010
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press Language: English
Author: Virginia Burrus
ISBN: 9780812200720
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication: August 3, 2010
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press
Language: English

Has a repressive morality been the primary contribution of Christianity to the history of sexuality? The ascetic concerns that pervade ancient Christian texts would seem to support such a common assumption. Focusing on hagiographical literature, Virginia Burrus pursues a fresh path of interpretation, arguing that the early accounts of the lives of saints are not antierotic but rather convey a sublimely transgressive "countereroticism" that resists the marital, procreative ethic of sexuality found in other strands of Christian tradition.

Without reducing the erotics of ancient hagiography to a single formula, The Sex Lives of Saints frames the broad historical, theological, and theoretical issues at stake in such a revisionist interpretation of ascetic eroticism, with particular reference to the work of Michel Foucault and Georges Bataille, David Halperin and Geoffrey Harpham, Leo Bersani and Jean Baudrillard. Burrus subsequently proceeds through close, performative readings of the earliest Lives of Saints, mostly dating to the late fourth and early fifth centuries—Jerome's Lives of Paul, Malchus, Hilarion, and Paula; Gregory of Nyssa's Life of Macrina; Augustine's portrait of Monica; Sulpicius Severus's Life of Martin; and the slightly later Lives of so-called harlot saints. Queer, s/m, and postcolonial theories are among the contemporary discourses that prove intriguingly resonant with an ancient art of "saintly" loving that remains, in Burrus's reading, promisingly mobile, diverse, and open-ended.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Has a repressive morality been the primary contribution of Christianity to the history of sexuality? The ascetic concerns that pervade ancient Christian texts would seem to support such a common assumption. Focusing on hagiographical literature, Virginia Burrus pursues a fresh path of interpretation, arguing that the early accounts of the lives of saints are not antierotic but rather convey a sublimely transgressive "countereroticism" that resists the marital, procreative ethic of sexuality found in other strands of Christian tradition.

Without reducing the erotics of ancient hagiography to a single formula, The Sex Lives of Saints frames the broad historical, theological, and theoretical issues at stake in such a revisionist interpretation of ascetic eroticism, with particular reference to the work of Michel Foucault and Georges Bataille, David Halperin and Geoffrey Harpham, Leo Bersani and Jean Baudrillard. Burrus subsequently proceeds through close, performative readings of the earliest Lives of Saints, mostly dating to the late fourth and early fifth centuries—Jerome's Lives of Paul, Malchus, Hilarion, and Paula; Gregory of Nyssa's Life of Macrina; Augustine's portrait of Monica; Sulpicius Severus's Life of Martin; and the slightly later Lives of so-called harlot saints. Queer, s/m, and postcolonial theories are among the contemporary discourses that prove intriguingly resonant with an ancient art of "saintly" loving that remains, in Burrus's reading, promisingly mobile, diverse, and open-ended.

More books from University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

Cover of the book Slavery in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia by Virginia Burrus
Cover of the book Day of Reckoning by Virginia Burrus
Cover of the book Toronto by Virginia Burrus
Cover of the book Reading Children by Virginia Burrus
Cover of the book Billy Graham and the Rise of the Republican South by Virginia Burrus
Cover of the book Haunted Visions by Virginia Burrus
Cover of the book Religion and Profit by Virginia Burrus
Cover of the book Fairy Godfather by Virginia Burrus
Cover of the book Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance by Virginia Burrus
Cover of the book An Infinity of Nations by Virginia Burrus
Cover of the book Deborah and Her Sisters by Virginia Burrus
Cover of the book The Associational State by Virginia Burrus
Cover of the book Unhuman Culture by Virginia Burrus
Cover of the book Blue-Collar Broadway by Virginia Burrus
Cover of the book American Gandhi by Virginia Burrus
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy