The Blood of Female Martyrs as the Sperm of the Early Church1

To what extent did early Christian martyr stories function as empowering the female body and contributing to an independent view of her 'self' and 'identity'? In the light of claims, often motivated by political correctness, that certain early Christian traditions acknowledged, appreciated and promoted woman's agency in Graeco-Roman social interaction, it is argued that if the notion of a 'regulatory body' is taken into consideration, early Christian female bodies and identities were crushed both by the Roman Imperium and early Christian patriarchal leadership

Aesthetics · Early Christianity · History of religions · Martyr · Political correctness · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Theology · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Classical Antiquity Studies · Gender Studies · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · Law · Philosophy · Religious studies