Reading Renunciation: Asceticism and Scripture in Early Christianity

by Elizabeth A. Clark

Overview

A study of how asceticism was promoted through Biblical interpretation, Reading Renunciation uses contemporary literary theory to unravel the writing strategies of the early Christian authors. Not a general discussion of early Christian teachings on celibacy and marriage, the book is a close examination, in the author's words, of how "the Fathers' axiology of abstinence informed their interpretation of Scriptural texts and incited the production of ascetic meaning."


Elizabeth Clark begins with a survey of scholarship concerning early Christian asceticism that is designed to orient the nonspecialist. Section Two is organized around potentially troubling issues posed by Old Testament texts that demanded skillful handling by ascetically inclined Christian exegetes. The third section, "Reading Paul," focuses on the hermeneutical problems raised by I Corinthians 7, and the Deutero-Pauline and Pastoral Epistles.


Elizabeth Clark's remarkable work will be of interest to scholars of late antiquity, religion, literary theory, and history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691005126
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	08/08/1999
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	7.75(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Elizabeth A. Clark is John Carlisle Kilgo Professor of Religion at Duke University and the author of several books, including The Origenist Controversy (Princeton). She is the past president of the American Academy of Religion, the American Society of Church History, and the North American Patristics Society. She is the coeditor of the Journal of Early Christian Studies.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Abbreviation List xv

CHAPTER ONE Introduction 3

CHAPTER TWO Asceticism in Late Ancient Christianity 14

Reading for Asceticism

CHAPTER THREE Reading in the Early Christian World 45

CHAPTER FOUR The Profits and Perils of Figurative Exegesis 70

CHAPTER FIVE Exegetical and Rhetorical Strategies for Ascetic Reading 104

CHAPTER SIX Three Models of Reading Renunciation 153

Rejection and Recuperation: The Old Dispensation and the New

CHAPTER SEVEN From Reproduction to Defamilialization 177

CHAPTER EIGHT From Ritual to Askesis 204

CHAPTER NINE The Exegesis of Divorce 233

Reading Paul

CHAPTER TEN I Corinthians 7 in Early Christian Exegesis 259

CHAPTER ELEVEN From Paul to the Pastorals 330

Afterword 371

Bibliograpky 375

Select Index of Biblical Passages 401

Select General Index 409

What People are Saying About This

Wayne A. Meeks

No aspect of the Christian tradition seems more alien to our own sensibilities than the ascetic temper of the late antique Church Fathers. Without diminishing their strangeness, Elizabeth Clark shows us just how they read their Bibles, their bodies, and their world. The book is itself a remarkable act of reading and writing--of 'poaching' and 'founding [her] own place'--informed by a profound knowledge of the ancient texts and by a mastery of postmodern critical theory.

Meeks

No aspect of the Christian tradition seems more alien to our own sensibilities than the ascetic temper of the late antique Church Fathers. Without diminishing their strangeness, Elizabeth Clark shows us just how they read their Bibles, their bodies, and their world. The book is itself a remarkable act of reading and writing—of 'poaching' and 'founding [her] own place'—informed by a profound knowledge of the ancient texts and by a mastery of postmodern critical theory.
— Wayne A. Meeks, Department of Religious Studies, Yale University

Daniel Boyarin

A brilliant exploration of the consequences of late ancient asceticism for the interpretation of the Bible. In her introductory chapter, Elizabeth Clark essentially revises and reverses the regnant historical notion of a peculiarly fourth-century ascetic movement, and argues instead that the ascetic movement has its roots in the very seedbeds of Christianity, indeed in its very Jewish soil. That demonstration alone would be worth the price of admission to this book, but it is only the appetizer, for she goes on to treat in detail and with clarity and verve the consequences of the patristic promotion of celibacy for the interpretation of the Bible. This book is indispensable for students of early Christianity, early Judaism, the Bible and the foundations of western interpretation in general.

From the Publisher

"Elizabeth Clark reveals in devastating detail how the ascetic project came to prevail in the culture wars of early Christianity. By an inventive and selective interpretation of the Scriptural texts, later writers made the texts suit their purpose. Through arguments that are dense, supple and exciting, Clark shows us the church fathers ruthlessly exploitating their own foundation texts. This is a magisterial work by a major scholar."—Averil Cameron, Keble College, University of Oxford

"No aspect of the Christian tradition seems more alien to our own sensibilities than the ascetic temper of the late antique Church Fathers. Without diminishing their strangeness, Elizabeth Clark shows us just how they read their Bibles, their bodies, and their world. The book is itself a remarkable act of reading and writing—of 'poaching' and 'founding [her] own place'—informed by a profound knowledge of the ancient texts and by a mastery of postmodern critical theory."—Wayne A. Meeks, Department of Religious Studies, Yale University

"A brilliant exploration of the consequences of late ancient asceticism for the interpretation of the Bible. In her introductory chapter, Elizabeth Clark essentially revises and reverses the regnant historical notion of a peculiarly fourth-century ascetic movement, and argues instead that the ascetic movement has its roots in the very seedbeds of Christianity, indeed in its very Jewish soil. That demonstration alone would be worth the price of admission to this book, but it is only the appetizer, for she goes on to treat in detail and with clarity and verve the consequences of the patristic promotion of celibacy for the interpretation of the Bible. This book is indispensable for students of early Christianity, early Judaism, the Bible and the foundations of western interpretation in general."—Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture, University of California at Berkeley

Averil Cameron

Elizabeth Clark reveals in devastating detail how the ascetic project came to prevail in the culture wars of early Christianity. By an inventive and selective interpretation of the Scriptural texts, later writers made the texts suit their purpose. Through arguments that are dense, supple and exciting, Clark shows us the church fathers ruthlessly exploitating their own foundation texts. This is a magisterial work by a major scholar.

Editorial Reviews

"This is a magisterial work. . . . Reading Renunciation will stand the test of scholarly time and remain an essential work in the long tradition of patristic exegesis."—-Richard Valantasis, Journal of Religion

"[A] scholarly, conscientious and provoking study"—-Philip Rousseau, Journal of Ecclesiastical History

From the Publisher

[A] scholarly, conscientious and provoking study

Journal of Ecclesiastical History - Philip Rousseau

This is a magisterial work. . . . Reading Renunciation will stand the test of scholarly time and remain an essential work in the long tradition of patristic exegesis.

Journal of Religion - Richard Valantasis

[A] scholarly, conscientious and provoking study
— Philip Rousseau

Journal of Ecclesiastical History

This is a magisterial work. . . . Reading Renunciation will stand the test of scholarly time and remain an essential work in the long tradition of patristic exegesis.
— Richard Valantasis

Journal of Religion