The Fetishization of Female Exempla: Mary, Thecla, Perpetua and Felicitas
Mary, Thecla, Perpetua and Felicitas are often seen as female exempla both in the early Christian world and in their modern reception. They are considered model teachers, martyrs and apostles, and counter-cultural as they surpass the normative gender hierarchy. Yet, the texts that tell their stories...
Main Author: | |
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Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Cambridge Univ. Press
[2017]
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In: |
New Testament studies
Year: 2017, Volume: 63, Issue: 4, Pages: 567-587 |
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Gospel of Mary
/ Acts of Paul and Thecla
/ Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis
/ Woman
/ Gender-specific role
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RelBib Classification: | BF Gnosticism KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity NBE Anthropology |
Further subjects: | B
Women
B Thecla B Perpetua B Gender B Mary |
Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | Mary, Thecla, Perpetua and Felicitas are often seen as female exempla both in the early Christian world and in their modern reception. They are considered model teachers, martyrs and apostles, and counter-cultural as they surpass the normative gender hierarchy. Yet, the texts that tell their stories are not so clear-cut. In characterising their protagonists, they repeatedly place them in sexualized or subordinate roles - they are condescended to, distrusted and exhibited. In the end, the women are favoured by the divine but hold little power over their male peers. Even as these texts appear to challenge the patriarchal society from which they stem, they reinscribe it. |
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ISSN: | 1469-8145 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: New Testament studies
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Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S0028688517000157 |