Constantine, Feminist

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:49 pm By Peter Leithart

Mathew Kuefler ( The Manly Eunuch: Masculinity, Gender Ambiguity, and Christian Ideology in Late Antiquity (The Chicago Series on Sexuality, History, and Society) ) notes that the traditional Roman patria potestas , and the male sexual privileges associated with it, were already waning in the early empire. But Constantine gave the system a firm kick in the shins. By earlier rules, women could not manage property themselves. A widow would have to have her property managed by a man, as... Read more

Words and Word

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:48 pm By Peter Leithart

Radner has these final comments on the hermeneutics of the “holiness code”: “The difference between the sexual laws of Lev. 18 and the laws of clean and unclean flesh in Lev. 11 cannot simply lie in their respective relation to teh category of ceremonial character. The difference lies in the way Jesus himself carries these realities in his body and in the body of his church. With respect to the animals . . . they are gathered up by Christ... Read more

Way of God’s Arrival

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:50 pm By Peter Leithart

Radner finds part of the fulfillment of the figures of Leviticus 18 in the genealoty of Jesus. On the one hand, Jesus’ own genealogy includes sexually illicit acts (Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba) and the various sins (not only sexual, but idolatry and oppression) represented in the genealogy eventually lead to Israel’s exile. Yet, “God also achieves a renewal of life through the suffering of mercy and through the maintenance somehow of the line of descent.” On the other hand, the laws... Read more

Figures of sex

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:41 pm By Peter Leithart

In dealing with the sexual legislation of Leviticus 18, Ephraim Radner ( Leviticus (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible) ) employs a figural/prophetic framework rather than a more traditional ceremonial/moral one. The results are intriguing. The prohibition of adultery, for instance, is “fulfilled by means of confession, self-recognition, forgiveness, and conversion in the Samaritan woman . . . and in the woman caught in adultery who is brought before Jesus.” The figure of sexual union is “fulfilled in Jesus’ own... Read more

Democracy fulfilled

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:53 pm By Peter Leithart

Drake notes the unique “democratic” flavor of the churcfh in the fourth century: “Christianity restored to common people an outlet for popular participation which they were denied in imperial politics. Eusebius [of Caesarea’s] awkward letter to his confregation from Nicaea, Constantine’s frequent letters to the Christians of Nicomedia, Alexandria, or Antioch – no matter how varied their format or contents, what the very existence of these letters testifies to first of all is the need of Christian leaders to justify... Read more

Cyrus and Civilizing Process

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:51 pm By Peter Leithart

Xenophon’s Cyrus provides a good illustration of Elias’s theory: “He trained his associates also not to spit or to wipe the nose in public, and not to turn round to look at anything, as being men who wondered at nothing. All this he thought contributed, in some measure, to their appearing to their subjects men who could not lightly be despised.” Read more

Eating babies

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:36 pm By Peter Leithart

In his Octavius , Minucius Felix includes a description of Christian initiation from his pagan character, Caecilianus: “the story about the initiation of young novices is as much to be detested as it is well known. An infant covered over with meal, that it may deceive the unwary, is placed before him who is to be stained with their rites: this infant is slain by the young pupil, who has been urged on as if to harmless blows on the... Read more

Gifts to men

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:42 pm By Peter Leithart

Xenophon’s Cyrus was the model Hellenistic king, ruling through generosity: “if he wished to have anyone of his friends courted by the multitude, to such a one he would send presents from his table. And that device proved effective; for even to this day everybody pays more diligent court to those to whom they see things sent from the royal table; for they think that such persons must be in high favour and in a position to secure for them... Read more

Constitutional Crisis

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 10:49 pm By Peter Leithart

Drake notes that the “one unwritten, but never to be violated, rule of the game of empire was this: although the Senate could be alienated with impunity so long as the loyalty of the troops was secure, it was impossible to alienate both Senate and military and still survive.” It’s a rule that Nero violated: “Alienated from both Senate and army, Nero took his own life in June 68,” and his death “triggered a constitutional crisis.” No successor was available,... Read more

Episcopal Courts

Last updated on: September 6, 2017 at 11:36 pm By Peter Leithart

Drake suggests that Constantine’s laws opening up appeals to episcopal courts were motivated not by concern “with the power of the bishop or of the church,” nor with a large effort to ensure the triumph of the church. Those conclusions arise from “the limited perspective imposed by overconcentration on Constantine’s religious beliefs.” Rather, he was concerned about “the administration of justice” and with the need for “fair and speedy trials.” Doesn’t this impose the very civil/religious dichotomy that Drake elsewhere... Read more