DOCSLIB.ORG

Female Religious As Collectors of Relics Finding Sacrality and Power in the “Ordinary”

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Female Religious As Collectors of Relics Finding Sacrality and Power in the “Ordinary” CHAPTER 9 Female Religious as Collectors of Relics Finding Sacrality and Power in the “Ordinary” Jane Schulenburg The hoe she [St. Moninna] used for digging was kept for many years after her death in her monastery in her honor. They also kept for a long time, with great reverence, her badger-skin garment—more precious than gowns of silk—and the wooden comb with which, once a year at Easter, it was her custom to comb her hair, unless the supreme necessity of ill- ness compelled her to use it more often.1 And any sick persons, no matter how seriously afflicted, who placed the smallest scrap of linen or cloth from her [St. Rusticula’s] garments on their bodies and appealed to her sanctity with fullest faith deserved to receive the body’s recovery and the soul’s salvation from the Lord.2 The topic of medieval relics has captured the interest and imagination of medi- evalists for the past several decades.3 There has, however, been a recent surge in the study of medieval relics and reliquaries.4 These works have underscored 1 Vita Sanctorum Hiberniae, Vita Sanctae Darercae 89 (287–88), cited by A.T. Lucas, “The Social Role of Relics and Reliquaries in Ancient Ireland,” The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 116 (1968): 9, and Diane Peters Auslander, Ethnicity in hagiography: The case of Darerca/Moninna/Modwenna/Modwenne in the British Isles, seventh to thirteenth centuries. PhD dissertation, CUNY, 2010, 120. 2 Jo Ann McNamara, and John E. Halborg, Sainted Women of the Dark Ages (Durham and London, 1992), ch. 27, 136. 3 For a few of the classic studies on medieval relics see: Nicole Hermann-Mascard, Les reliques des saints: formation coutumière d’un droit (Paris, 1975); Patrick Geary, Furta Sacra: Thefts of Relics in the Central Middle Ages, rev. ed. (Princeton, 1990); David Rollason, Saints and Relics in Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford, 1989); Peter Brown, Society and the Holy in Late Antiquity (Berkeley, 1982); Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity (Chicago, 1981); Pierre-André Sigal, L’Homme et le miracle dans la France médiéval (XIe-XIIe siècle), (Paris, 1985); Edina Bozóky and Anne-Marie Helvétius, eds. Les Reliques: Objets, cultes, symbols: actes du colloque international de l’Université du Littoral-Côte d’Opale (Turnhout, 1999); Pierre-André Sigal, “Reliques, pèlerinage et miracles dans l’église médiéval (XI-XIIIe siècles),” Revue d’Histoire de l’Eglise de France, 76 (1990): 193–211. 4 For a few of the recent works on medieval relics see: Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics, and Devotion in Medieval Europe, eds. Martina Bagnoli, et al. (Baltimore, MD, 2010); Cynthia Hahn, Strange Beauty: Issues in the Making and Meaning of Reliquaries, 400–circa 1204 © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2014 | doi 10.1163/9789004274167_011 <UN> Female Religious As Collectors Of Relics 153 the pervasiveness and the great importance of relics for medieval society and the church. No longer viewed as merely within the purview of “popular religion,” scholars have focused on the complex relationship of relics and relic cults to politics, economics, health care, magic, liturgical matters, patronage, and art and architecture. However, in general, the major involvement of women and particularly the role of female religious in the collection and use of relics has not received the kind of attention that it merits. While a number of excellent studies have focused on individual female collectors, or local stud- ies of particular relics, or collections found in specific women’s houses,5 (University Park, PA, 2012); Cynthia Hahn, “Seeing and Believing: The Construction of Sanctity in Early Medieval Saints’ Shrines.” Speculum 72:4 (1997): 1079–1106; Cynthia Hahn, “What Do Reliquaries Do for Relics?” Numen 57 (2010): 284–316; Katherine French, “Scripture, Textile Brandea, and Early Medieval Relic Boxes,” and “Agency, Apotropaicism, and Amuletic Reliquaries in Early Medieval Gaul,” recent on-line publications; Jean-Luc Deuffic, Reliques et sainteté dans l’espace medieval, Pecia: Resources en médiévistique, vol. 8–11. (Saint-Denis, 2006); Julia M.H. Smith, “Old Saints, New Cults: Roman Relics in Carolingian Francia” and “Appendix: Relic Translations from Rome to Francia, 750–900,” in Early Medieval Rome and the Christian West: Essays in Honour of Donald A. Bullough, ed. Julia M.H. Smith (Leiden, Boston, Koln, 2000), 317–40; Jane Tibbetts Schulenburg, “Women’s Monasteries and Sacred Space: The Promotion of Saints’ Cults and Miracles,” in Gender and Christianity in Medieval Europe: New Perspectives, eds. Lisa M. Bitel and Felice Lifshitz (Philadelphia, 2008), 68–86. 5 For St. Radegund and her cult see the following—Magdalena Elizabeth Carrasco, “Spirituality in Context: The Romanesque Illustrated Life of St. Radegund of Poitiers (Poitiers, Bibl. Mun. Ms 250),” The Art Bulletin 72:3 (September 1990): 414–35; Jennifer C. Edwards, “The Sweetness of Suffering: Community, Conflict, and the Cult of Saint Radegund in Medieval Poitiers,” PhD dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008; Jennifer Edwards, “Their Cross to Bear Controversy and the Relics of the True Cross in Poitiers,” Essays in Medieval Studies, 24 (2007): 65–77; Isabelle Moireia, “Provisatrix Optima: St. Radegund of Poitiers’ Relic Petitions to the East.” Journal of Medieval History 19 (1993): 285–305; Brian Brennan, “St. Radegund and the Early Development of Her Cult at Poitiers.” Journal of Religious History 13 (1985): 340–54; Sabina Gäbe, “Radegundis: Sancta, Regina, Ancilla. Zum Heiligkeitsideal der Radegundisviten von Fortunat und Baudonivia.” Francia 16 (1989): 1–30; Cynthia Hahn, “Collector and Saint: Queen Radegund and Devotion to the Relic of the True Cross,” Word and Image, 22:3 (July-Sept. 2006): 268–74. For studies of various medieval convents and their relics see: Katrinette Bodarwé, “Roman Martyrs and their veneration in Ottonian Saxony: The Case of the Sanctimoniales of Essen,” Early Medieval Europe 9:3 (2000): 345–65; Andreas Bauch, Ein bayerisches Mirakelbuch aus de Karolingerzeit. Eichstätter Studien, Neue Folge, Band XII (Regensburg, 1979); Hedwig Röckelein, “Leben im Schutz der Heiligen: Reliquientranslationem nach Essen vom 9 bis 11 Jahrhundert” in Herrschaft, Bildung und Gebet: Gründung und Anfähge des frauenstifts (Essen, 2000): 87–100; Anne L. Clark, “Guardians of the Sacred: The Nuns of Soissons and the Slipper of the Virgin Mary,” Church History 76:4 (Dec. 2007): 724–49; Joan A. Holladay, “Relics, Reliquaries, and Religious <UN>.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Merovingian Queens: Status, Religion, and Regency
    Merovingian Queens: Status, Religion, and Regency Jackie Nowakowski Honors Thesis Submitted to the Department of History, Georgetown University Advisor: Professor Jo Ann Moran Cruz Honors Program Chair: Professor Alison Games May 4, 2020 Nowakowski 1 Table of Contents: Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………………..2 ​ Map, Genealogical Chart, Glossary……………………………………………………………3 ​ Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………7 ​ Chapter 1: The Makings of a Merovingian Queen: Slave, Concubine, or Princess………..18 ​ Chapter 2: Religious Authority of Queens: Intercessors and Saints………………………..35 ​ Chapter 3: Queens as Regents: Scheming Stepmothers and Murdering Mothers-in-law....58 ​ Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………....80 ​ Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………….83 ​ Nowakowski 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Professor Moran Cruz for all her guidance and advice; you have helped me become a better scholar and writer. I also want to thank Professor Games for your constant enthusiasm and for creating a respectful and fun atmosphere for our seminar. Your guidance over these past two semesters have been invaluable. I am also so grateful for my classmates, who always gave me honest and constructive feedback; I have enjoyed seeing where your projects take you. Most of all, I would like to thank my family and friends for listening to me talk nonstop about a random, crazy, dysfunctional family from the sixth century. I am incredibly thankful for my parents, sister, and friends for their constant support. Thank you mom for listening to a podcast on the Merovingians so you could better understand what I am studying. You have always inspired me to work hard and I probably wouldn’t have written a thesis without you as my inspiration. I also want to thank my dad, who always supported my studies and pretended to know more about a topic than he actually did.
    [Show full text]
  • The Huber – Jägerstätter Family
    The Huber – Jägerstätter family Childhood On 20th May 1907, the unmarried farm maidservant Rosalia Huber gave birth to a son at her parents’ home at No. 22 St. Radegund. The child was baptized Franciscus (Carraciola) in the parish church on 21st May. Franz Huber’s father was Franz Bachmeier from Tarsdorf in the province of Salz- burg, the unmarried son of a farmer. Being servants, he and the mother of the child were too poor to marry and start a family. After the birth, the young mother had to leave the child in the care of her own mother. This shoemaker’s widow, Elisabeth Huber, had 13 children to feed on the pro- duce of her small farm. Her grandchildren describe her as a deeply reli- gious, loving woman of wide interests, who would often kneel and pray for long periods at night in the nearby chapel. From 1913 to 1921, Franz attended the one-roomed primary school in St. Radegund. Here, one teacher taught seven grades in a single room – about 50 to 60 children in all. In one poem, “From my Childhood”, written in Austrian dialect and dated 7th September 1932, Franz recalls the discrimination he suffered at school due to his poverty: “As I was just a poor boy, this thought came to my mind, however well and honestly I learned, they always gave me a ‘three’.”1 In the corresponding period, during which there was a severe shortage of food due to the war, the parish chronicle of St. Radegund mentions a teacher who used to supply his relatives in the town with food from the village.
    [Show full text]
  • St. Radegund and St. Olav: Medieval Cults of Rulers in the System of Perceptions of Authority
    The Turkish Online Journal of Design, Art and Communication - TOJDAC November 2016 Special Edition ST. RADEGUND AND ST. OLAV: MEDIEVAL CULTS OF RULERS IN THE SYSTEM OF PERCEPTIONS OF AUTHORITY Anastasiya Dmitriyevna Mokropolova Kazan Federal University, Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation [email protected] Natalia Yurievna Bikeeva Kazan Federal University, Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation [email protected] ABSTRACT The cults of the saints rulers occupy a special place among the medieval cults. They were linked with the objectives of the political ideology and the sacralization of power. The connection between kingship and sainthood was common in Europe at the period VI-XI cc.In the research we focused our analysis on two medieval saints – Radegund, Frankish queen-nun, and Olav II, king of Norway. We used two types of sources, which reflect category of sainthood from different approaches: hagiographic (Vitae sanctae Radegundis) and literary (Saga of st. Olav).The analysis of these sources identifies the existence of two ideological traits: one, and more dominant, is tied up with the system of Christian religious conceptions, the other reflects both Christian and traditional Viking’s observances. The image of a holy woman reproduced the traditional model of holiness and reflected more negative assessment of secular authority by the church consciousness. At the same time the Lives of st. Radegund represented her as a model of Christian ruler. The contrast between “secular” and “spiritual” in the image of St. Olav is less obvious. The Norwegian king is depicted not only as a carrier of the Christian virtues, but as a mighty and valiant ruler.
    [Show full text]
  • From the Holy Land to the Cloister: the Decline of Female Ascetic Pilgrimages in the Early Medieval West (C
    From the Holy Land to the Cloister: The Decline of Female Ascetic Pilgrimages in the Early Medieval West (c. 350-615) Manon Claire Williams Department of History University of Colorado at Boulder Primary Thesis Advisor Dr. Scott Bruce, Department of History Honors Council Representative Dr. Fred Anderson, Department of History Outside Reader Dr. Andrew Cain, Department of Classics Defense: April 2nd 2015 Abstract This paper will focus on the mobility of ascetic women from late antiquity through to the early Middle Ages with a particular emphasis on the practice of pilgrimage. As seen in multiple primary source documents, religious women from the West were journeying to the Holy Land and beyond from the fourth through to the early fifth centuries. This practice, however, is mentioned remarkably less in accounts of religious women north of the Alps in the late fifth century onwards. Evidence of women undertaking pilgrimages to the Holy Land is sparse while their male counterparts continued to make such journeys. Although the monastic rules that cloistered women certainly did have an impact on the movement of religious women in the early medieval West as other scholars have argued, there are a variety of external and non-religious factors that also contributed to the decline of female ascetic pilgrimages. This thesis will aim to give a more complete answer to this decline by focusing on the functions that religious women played in their communities, which effectively bound them to those same communities. Due to a lack of source material, the main focus of the early medieval period will be in Gaul, which will provide a case study for understanding the roles that religious women played in society within the context of early Merovingian politics and economy.
    [Show full text]
  • Franz Jägerstätter 18 November 2018 Philip Mcdonagh
    Saints – Franz Jägerstätter 18 November 2018 Philip McDonagh Matthew 5: 1–11 2 Thessalonians 2: 1–13 Anomia, dikaiosune, krima reflections on the witness of Franz Jägerstätter I’m greatly honoured by the invitation to speak to you this evening. My subject is Franz Jägerstätter, executed in Berlin in 1943 on a charge of undermining military morale. The Letter to the Thessalonians tells us: the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Iniquity, in Latin iniquitas, in Greek anomia, suggests not so much the absence of law as the presence of a distorted law, a law confused and corrupted by a dangerous admixture of untruth. According to St Matthew, blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The two readings fit together, as I see it, because the just man, in Greek the dikaios, is the standard, in fact the only standard, by which iniquity or false law or not-law can be revealed for what it is. I would like to introduce yet a third Greek word. In the Septuagint and the New Testament, the just person’s capacity for right judgment is rendered by the word krima or krisis. Here are a couple of lines from the second chapter of Zephaniah in which, to make my point, I translate krima as discernment: Seek the Lord, all you, the humble of the earth… Practise discernment, seek justice… In St John 9 v39, Jesus states: It is for krima that I came into this world, so that the blind might see. In another of the prophets, Zechariah, the ability to ‘see’, to form a right judgment about a shared situation, is the gift of a pure Spirit; in St John, it is gift of the Holy Spirit Himself.
    [Show full text]
  • Privileged Places; How Relics Built and Strengthened Communities in Southern Medieval France
    Privileged Places; How Relics Built and Strengthened Communities in Southern Medieval France A Division III project by Leah Spinrad In partial fulfillment of the Degree of Bachelor of the Arts Hampshire College May 4, 2006 Committee Chair: Jutta Sperling Committee Members: Alan Hodder and Sean Gilsdorf Privileged Places: an Introduction In 855, Saint Foy’s body lay in her tomb in Agen, while north of her in Conques, a group of monks discussed their own survival. A well-meaning king had granted them a new monastery building further up the river in Figeac, but the mother house and the priory did not get along well. With another monastery to support, the local donors around the monasteries would never be able to pay for everything that they needed. And if the new monastery split, Figeac would become much more popular because they were right on the river while Conques was in a very steep valley. The monks decided that the best thing to do was to find a miracle worker, a saint who would put Conques on the map, and secure their existence. In the Middle Ages, a powerful relic would ensure pilgrims and donations, as well as cause an overall increase in the awareness of the spirit of God. The monks at Conques would have a miracle on their hands, and the community would be stronger than ever. In 856 the fate of the child martyr Foy in Agen and the monks at Conques intersected when the monks stole her remains from her tomb and brought them to their monastery.
    [Show full text]
  • Queenship, Intrigue and Blood-Feud: Deciphering the Causes of The
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Master's Theses Graduate School 2013 Queenship, intrigue and blood-feud: deciphering the causes of the Merovingian civil wars, 561-613 Brandon Taylor Craft Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Craft, Brandon Taylor, "Queenship, intrigue and blood-feud: deciphering the causes of the Merovingian civil wars, 561-613" (2013). LSU Master's Theses. 3931. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_theses/3931 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Master's Theses by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. QUEENSHIP, INTRIGUE AND BLOOD-FEUD: DECIPHERING THE CAUSES OF THE MEROVINGIAN CIVIL WARS, 561-613 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in The Department of History by Brandon Taylor Craft B.A., Louisiana State University, 2010 December 2013 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Professor Maribel Dietz for her guidance and support. Thanks also to Professors Christine Kooi and Steven Ross for their participation on my thesis panel. Their suggestions were invaluable to my final draft. I would also like to thank Professor Kristopher Fletcher; without his class and advice, producing the translations necessary for this thesis would have been a monumental task.
    [Show full text]
  • Studies in Sixth-Century Gaul
    GREGORY OF TOURS AND THE WOMEN IN HIS WORKS Studies in Sixth-Century Gaul Erin Thomas Dailey Submitted in Accordance with the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds School of History February, 2011 ii The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that the appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. 2011 The University of Leeds Erin Thomas Dailey iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful for the opportunity to thank all of those who contributed to this study on Gregory of Tours and the women in his works. First I must mention my deep gratitude to my supervisor, Ian Wood, whose kind and eager assistance was invaluable in every part of this project. I must also thank the School of History in the University of Leeds, which not only accepted this project but also provided funding in the form of a generous bursary. Several people have cordially read and commented on this study in part or in total, and so I would like to offer my deepest thanks to Helmut Reimitz, Paul Fouracre, Stephen Werronen, Sheryl McDonald, Carl Taylor, Meritxell Perez Martinez, Michael Garcia, Nicky Tsougarakis, and Henna Iqbal. I must also mention Sylvie Joye, who provided me with several useful materials in French, and Danuta Shanzer, who provided me with her latest research on the Burgundian royal family.
    [Show full text]
  • The Merovingian Kingdoms 450-751
    The Merovingian Kingdoms 450-751 Ian Wood • •• LONGMAN London and New York Contents List of Abbreviations x Preface xi Introduction: Constructing Merovingian History 1 1. The Barbarians in Gaul 5 The coming of the barbarians 5 The Visigoths 6 The Burgundians 8 The setdement of the barbarians 10 Imperial weakness 13 The last emperors 14 The creation of the Visigothic kingdom 16 2. Literary Continuity and Discontinuity: Late-Fifth- and Sixth-Century Culture 20 Sidonius Apollinaris and the last days of the Empire 21 Asceticism and culture in the fifth and sixth centuries 22 Letter-writing in the sixth century 24 Gregory of Tours and the decline of culture 28 3. The Establishment of Merovingian Power: the Franks before 537 33 The Trojan legend of the Franks 33 The early Franks 35 The long-haired kings 36 Childeric I 38 Clovis 41 Theuderic, the Danes and the Thuringians 50 The end of the Burgundian kingdom and the Auvergne campaign 51 The Merovingian Kingdoms 4. Kings and Kingdoms: the Structure of the Realm in the Sixth Century 55 The divisions of the kingdom 55 Merovingian succession 58 The government of the Teilreiche 60 Royal resources 64 Royal ideology 66 5. The Limits of Ecclesiastical Power: Episcopal Jurisdiction and Politics 71 Diocesan organization 71 The Christian community 72 Bishops and saint cults 73 Episcopal jurisdiction 75 Episcopal elections 77 Bishops and local society: the Auvergne 79 Theodore of Marseilles 84 Gregory and Tours 86 6. Stability in Disunity: the Civil Wars of the Sixth Century 88 Family politics 511-613 89 The causes of war 91 The Gundovald affair 93 Gundovald and the opposition to Childebert II 96 Kings and magnates 99 Politics in Aquitaine 100 7.
    [Show full text]
  • St Radegund's Abbey, Dover
    http://kentarchaeology.org.uk/research/archaeologia-cantiana/ Kent Archaeological Society is a registered charity number 223382 © 2017 Kent Archaeological Society • N.E. corner of Procession S. wall of Nave. Tower. Cloister door. Forensic Parlour. Door. CHURCH OF ST. RADEGUND'S ABBEY, FROM THE CLOISTER. ( 187 ) ST. RADEGUND'S ABBEY, DOVER. BY S. E. WINBOLT. ON a high chaUc plateau (over 400 ft.) about a mile and a half Ni of the Dover-Folkestone road, and three miles from both Eolkestone and Dover, stand the considerable remains of St. Radegund's Abbey. It is little known because rather inaccessible, reached as it is from Alkham and Capel by a narrow lane, steep in places and badly surfaced, by a similar lane from Buckland, and by a steep road from River with a better surface. AU three ways no doubt existed when the Abbey was founded in 1191. Privacy was part of the attrac- tion of the site ; other attractions were the self-contained farm, bounded north and south by east-west valleys, and a fine supply of water for the farm and the horses offered by a big pond with a never-faihng spring—Bradsole, a Saxon name meaning " broad pond." It looks as if a Saxon settlement in the valley at Polton close by had developed this pond for use in its upland pastures. Of Polton there is now little left: its church has vanished. St. Radegund's, partly a residence and garden, and partly a farm, owned by Mr. Thomas Else (a member of the Kent Archseological Society), is private; but though it is not a show place, Mr.
    [Show full text]
  • “Secrecy” in the Asceticism of St Radegund According to Venantius Fortunatus’ Vita
    “SECRECY” IN THE ASCETICISM OF ST RADEGUND ACCORDING TO VENANTIUS FORTUNATUS’ VITA Natalia Yurievna BIKEEVA Sainthood has always been considered a major aspect of the complex cultural and spiritual values of the Early Middle Ages. The period chosen for this study (the second half of the 6th century CE) may be characterised by the dynamic nature of its culture during the transition from a pagan cultural paradigm to a Christian one. Various aspects of the perception of “sainthood” in the Early Middle Ages made it appropriate to use different types of representative texts as source material. Analysis of early medieval texts contributes to the reconstruction of the spirituality, social parameters of religious life (in particular at the so-called grassroots level), and religious and cultural perceptions of society, as well as to understanding the general categories of early medieval culture. As a result, the semantic content of primary sources has come to play a leading role in this research. Investigation of various texts written in this period demonstrates the difference in descriptions of parallel events in the lives of saints, as well as the varying attention paid by different (or sometimes even the same) writers to those events. Therefore, the application of various techniques of linguistic analysis is likely to be appropriate for the historian. It goes without saying that the phenomenon of holiness is an element of Christian religious culture. And one area in which religious views about sanctity (the ideal and mode of holiness) found expression in the Early Middle Ages was the sphere of hagiography. In our research we have focused our analysis on Merovingian1 hagiographical sources, specifically Kazan Federal University, Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation; e-mail: [email protected].
    [Show full text]
  • Reclaiming the Power of Women in the Early Church Ruth Adam
    Eastern Michigan University DigitalCommons@EMU Senior Honors Theses Honors College 2006 Unveiling Precedent: Reclaiming the Power of Women in the Early Church Ruth Adam Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.emich.edu/honors Recommended Citation Adam, Ruth, "Unveiling Precedent: Reclaiming the Power of Women in the Early Church" (2006). Senior Honors Theses. 65. http://commons.emich.edu/honors/65 This Open Access Senior Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors College at DigitalCommons@EMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Senior Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@EMU. For more information, please contact lib- [email protected]. Unveiling Precedent: Reclaiming the Power of Women in the Early Church Abstract Beginning in the earliest Christian churches in the first century and continuing in Christianity today, the religious role of women has been the subject of constant debate. Time and time again, the position of women in the church has been used to gauge orthodoxy, and delineating their proper roles has been the focus of numerous church councils, theologians, and religious authorities. However, unlike other church doctrines, the orthodox position of women has yet to be definitely established. Rather, it has been perpetually in flux, not only within the Catholic Church, but also among the many denominations of Christianity. As a result, Christian women who wish to dedicate their lives to some form of ministry are faced with the difficult question of where they can or should serve. How do we reconcile, for example, the apostle Paul’s statement in Galatians 3:28 that there is neither “male nor female” with his assertion that women were not to teach or speak in church?1 For this reason, I found it necessary to investigate the position of women in the early church to discover exactly what roles women held, how their roles changed, and the reason behind this change.
    [Show full text]