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From virile woman to womanChrist : studies in medieval religion and literature /

Why did hagiographers of the late Middle Ages praise mothers for abandoning small children? How did a group of female mystics come to define themselves as "apostles to the dead" and end by challenging God's right to damn? Why did certain heretics around 1300 venerate a woman as the Ho...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Clasificación:Libro Electrónico
Autor principal: Newman, Barbara, 1953-
Formato: Electrónico eBook
Idioma:Inglés
Publicado: Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, ©1995.
Colección:Middle Ages series.
Temas:
Acceso en línea:Texto completo
Descripción
Sumario:Why did hagiographers of the late Middle Ages praise mothers for abandoning small children? How did a group of female mystics come to define themselves as "apostles to the dead" and end by challenging God's right to damn? Why did certain heretics around 1300 venerate a woman as the Holy Spirit incarnate and another as the Angelic Pope?In From Virile Woman to WomanChrist, Barbara Newman asks these and other questions to trace a gradual and ambiguous transition in the gender strategies of medieval religious women. An egalitarian strain in early Christianity affirmed that once she asserted her commitment to Christ through a vow of chastity, monastic profession, or renunciation of family ties, a woman could become "virile," or equal to a man. While the ideal of the "virile woman" never disappeared, another ideal slowly evolved in medieval Christianity. By virtue of some gender-related trait--spotless virginity, erotic passion, the capacity for intense suffering, the ability to imagine a feminine aspect of the Godhead--a devout woman could be not only equal, but superior to men; without becoming male, she could become a "womanChrist," imitating and representing Christ in uniquely feminine ways.Rooted in women's concrete aspirations and sufferings, Newman's "womanChrist" model straddles the bounds of orthodoxy and heresy to illuminate the farther reaches of female religious behavior in the Middle Ages. From Virile Woman to WomanChrist will generate compelling discussion in the fields of medieval literature and history, history of religion, theology, and women's studies.
Descripción Física:1 online resource (355 pages) : illustrations
Bibliografía:Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-343) and index.
ISBN:0585172803
9780585172804
9780812200263
0812200268
1283891891
9781283891899