
Reading Renunciation
Asceticism and Scripture in Early Christianity
Elizabeth A. Clark(Author)
Princeton University Press
Published on 8. August 1999
Book
Paperback/Softback
360 pages
978-0-691-00512-6 (ISBN)
Description
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.
Reviews / Votes
"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 HistoryMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
710 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-00512-6 (9780691005126)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
07/1999
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
€233.95
Available for download
Person
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.
Content
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