The Ideal of the Christian Couple
Ign. Pol. 5.1–2 Looking Back to Paul
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19294265 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Margaret Y Macdonald (0000-0001-7158-9500, University of Ottawa, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 105-125 |
| Publication date | 1994-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Testament Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0028-6885 • E-ISSN: 1469-8145 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0028688500020464 |
| OpenAlex | W2094974118 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 16 |
Reflecting upon ethical ideals upheld by the Apostolic Fathers scholars have noted the presence of a ‘positive attitude towards pagan society’, ‘ideas comparable to those of nineteenth-century petty bourgeoisie’, a vision of the church made up of ‘generous householders, well-disciplined children, submissive wives, and reliable slaves’. Commenting on the renunciation of Paul's preference for virginity by the beginning of the second century, Elizabeth A. Clark concludes that ‘... the ordering of the household deemed normal by late ancient pagan society tended to prevail in Christianity as well’. Recent work on the implications of remaining unmarried for the lives of early Christian women has perhaps allowed the tipping of the scale away from the preference for the privileges of virginity towards the ideal of wifely submission to stand out in even fuller relief. The obvious question is why the Christian ideal of the married couple with its apparent openness to Greco-Roman ethics emerges so boldly at the turn of the century. The attractive solution most frequently proposed is, as Clark puts it, that wives exhibiting the characteristic virtues of good domestic order, discretion and modesty, stood as ‘apologists for the new faith’
Asceticism · Bourgeoisie · Christianity · Discretion · Economics · Faith · Ideal (ethics) · Openness to experience · Order (exchange) · Political science · Politics · Renunciation · Sociology · Theology · Virginity test · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Gender Studies · History · Law · Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies · Philosophy · Psychology · Religious studies · Social Psychology
A History of Private Life II
The explanation of ideology
Goddesses, whores, wives and slaves
The social construction of reality
Ignatius of Antioch
Women Holy in Body and Spirit
Roman Women
Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves
Paternity and Maternity in the Mediterranean
Patterns of Sectarianism
Early Christian women married to unbelievers
Sociology and the New Testament
Power and Sexuality. The Emergence of Canon Law at the Synod of Elvira
Roman Women, Their History and Habits
| Highly cited | No |
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