Early Christian Women

Description

In this Element the author argues that genre deeply affects how early Christian female philosophers are characterized across different works. The included case studies are three women who feature in both narrative and dialogic texts: Thecla, Macrina the Younger and Monica. Based on these examples, the author demonstrates that the narrative sources tend to eschew secular education, while the dialogic sources are open to displays of secular knowledge. Philosophy was not only seen as a way of life, but sometimes also as a mode of educated argumentation. The author further argues that these female philosophers were held up in their femininity as models for imitation by both women and men. Cover Title page Copyright page Early Christian Women Contents 1 Introduction: Lady Philosophy and Real Female Philosophers 2 Thecla, “Second to None in Philosophy and the Liberal Arts” (Meth. Symp. 8.170) 2.1 The Acts of Paul and Thecla 2.1.1 Thecla as Student in the Acts of Paul and Thecla 2.1.2 Thecla as Teacher in the Acts of Paul and Thecla 2.1.3 Conclusion 2.2 Thecla the Philosopher in Methodius of Olympus’ Symposium 2.2.1 The Philosophical Setting of the Symposium 2.2.2 Thecla the Philosopher 2.2.3 Methodius’ Frame and Methodius the Author (Methodius in Drag) 2.2.4 Conclusion 2.3 Conclusion 3 Macrina the Younger, “Who Raised Herself to the Furthest Limit of Human Virtue through Philosophy” (Greg. Nyss. Vit. Macr. 1.27–29) 3.1 The Life of Macrina: A Philosopher on the Move at Home 3.1.1 Methodius’ Thecla as Macrina’s Philosophical Model 3.1.2 Macrina’s Education 3.1.3 Heights of Philosophy 3.1.4 Macrina’s Prayer 3.1.5 Conclusion 3.2 On the Soul and Resurrection: A Philosopher in Dialogue 3.2.1 Women in Gregory’s Model, Plato’s Phaedo 3.2.2 Macrina’s Knowledge in On the Soul and Resurrection 3.3 Conclusion 4 Monica, Who “Grasped the Very Citadel of Philosophy” (Aug. De Beat. Vit. 2.10) 4.1 Monica in Augustine’s Confessions 4.1.1 Monica’s Education in the Confessions 4.1.2 Monica and the “Vision/Audition/Imbibition at Ostia” 4.1.3 Monica’s Death in the Confessions 4.1.4 Monica at Cassiciacum in the Confessions 4.1.5 Conclusion 4.2 Monica in Augustine’s Cassiciacum Dialogues 4.2.1 Monica the Philosopher in Augustine’s De Beata Vita 4.2.2 Monica the Philosopher in Augustine’s De Ordine and the Problem of Feminae Philosophatae 4.2.3 Monica’s Two Lunches and Two Songs 4.3 Conclusion 5 Conclusion List of Abbreviations References Acknowledgments