Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity
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PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com) © Copyright Oxford University Press, 2007. All Rights Reserved Hunter, David G. , Professor of Religious Studies and Monsignor James A. Supple Chair of Catholic Studies, Iowa State University Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity The Jovinianist Controversy Publication date 2007 (print edition) Print ISBN: 978-0-19-927978-4 doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279784.001.0001 Abstract: In the later years of the fourth century the monk Jovinian was condemned at Rome and Milan for teaching that all baptized Christians were equal in God's sight and that all would receive an equal reward in heaven regardless of ascetic merit. This book is the first study in English devoted to Jovinian and the controversy sparked by his teaching. In chapter 1 I offer a reconstruction of Jovinian's teaching, uncovering its strong anti-heretical emphases, exposing its biblical foundations, and relating it to fourth-century baptismal practice. Subsequent chapters place Jovinian in a variety of contexts: the rise of a Christian aristocracy in the fourth century (chapter 2); the development of an anti-heretical tradition in the first three centuries (chapter 3); the proliferation of this heresiological discourse in the fourth century (chapter 4); and the history of Marian theology, especially on the matter of Mary's perpetual virginity (chapter 5). In the final two chapters I distinguish the different approaches to marriage, celibacy, and clerical life evinced by Jovinian's opponents (chapter 6), and highlight the ways in which one of these opponents, Jerome, became the object of criticism and accusations of heresy. If there is a single conclusion to be drawn from this study, it is that Jovinian stood much closer to the mainstream of the Christian tradition than previous critics (including his ancient opponents) allowed. Keywords: Jovinian, marriage, celibacy, orthodoxy, heresy, virginity, Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, Siricius Table of Contents Preface Introduction Part I. Jovinian and his World 1. Reconstructing Jovinian The main outlines of the teaching of Jovinian can be reconstructed from the reports of Siricius, Ambrose, and Jerome. Condemned at Rome and Milan in spring of 393, Jovinian acquired a considerable following by denying that celibate Christians were, ipso facto, superior to married Christians. He also appears to have accused his opponents of heresy, especially ‘Manichaeism’. For example, he charged that Ambrose was guilty of heresy for teaching that Mary the mother of Jesus remained physically intact in the process of giving birth (virginitas in partu). Jovinian stressed the power of baptism to overcome evil and to guarantee salvation for all Christians. 2. Jovinian and Christian Rome In the background of the Jovinianist controversy there is plentiful evidence of Christian opposition to asceticism, especially at Rome. One reason for this is that by the mid-fourth century a Christian aristocratic culture had begun to develop, in which ‘assimilation and accommodation’ (Salzman) to traditional aristocratic values was the norm. Even when late Roman aristocrats adopted asceticism, they often did so in line with traditional aristocratic expectations of their class and without significant disruption of lifestyle. The adoption of asceticism by female members of the gens Anicii is a notable example. 1 of 2 Part II. Jovinian, Heresy, and Asceticism 3. Asceticism, Heresy, and Early Christian Tradition Jovinian's accusations against ascetic extremists had a precedent in earlier Christian tradition. Ascetic elitism was opposed by a number of early Christian writers, including 1 Clement, Ignatius, and the author of the Pastoral Epistles. By the early third century, this opposition had hardened into the polarities of ‘orthodoxy’ and ‘heresy’. This anti-heretical effort culminated in the writings of Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria against the ‘encratite’ heresy, which anticipated the polemics of Jovinian. In the third century we also see the development of a ‘moderate encratism’ in the writings of Tertullian, Cyprian, and Origen, which later inspired the opponents of Jovinian, e.g. Ambrose and Jerome. 4. Jovinian, Heresy, and Fourth-Century Asceticism Both radical and moderate forms of encratism proliferated in the fourth century, encouraged by the spread of monasticism and Manichaeism. Anti-heretical responses followed, both in literary works and in imperial legislation: the labels ‘Manichaean’ and ‘Encratite’ were applied to all types of ascetics, thereby blurring the boundaries between ‘orthodoxy’ and ‘heresy’. Heresiologists, such as Epiphanius and Filastrius of Brescia, also indiscriminately mixed Manichees, Encratites, Montanists, and even the followers of Origen. Thus they prepared the way for the kind of polemics articulated by Jovinian. 5. Mary Ever-Virgin? Jovinian and Marian Heresy A survey of the history of the idea of Mary's virginitas in partu shows that the notion had only marginal support in the tradition of the first three centuries. Associated with both docetism and encratism, the doctrine was opposed even by ascetically minded teachers, such as Tertullian and Origen. In the late fourth century, however, the notion of Mary's virginitas in partu reappeared in the sermons of Zeno of Verona and the ascetical treatises of Ambrose; Jerome, by contrast, was more reticent about embracing the idea. Jovinian's opposition to the virginitas in partu, therefore, stood squarely in the mainstream of Christian opinion, as it had developed by the late fourth century. Part III. Jovinian and his Opponents 6. Against Jovinian: From Siricius to Jerome Although they all concurred in condemning Jovinian, Pope Siricius, Ambrose, and Jerome had different views of asceticism and clerical office. Siricius had long been lukewarm towards ascetic piety; he insisted that monks had to work their way through the ranks of the clergy before becoming presbyters or bishops, at the same time as he insisted on sexual continence for the higher clergy. Ambrose, by contrast, saw monks as the ideal candidates for the episcopacy, and he encouraged the ascetical life, especially in the form of consecrated female virginity. Jerome favoured the ascetic life and looked down on most of the clergy. He also was overtly hostile towards both Siricius and Ambrose. All of these different dynamics came into play in the course of the Jovinianist Controversy 7. After Jovinian: Marriage and Celibacy in Western Theology The extreme positions taken by Jerome in his Adversus Jovinianum provoked numerous responses in the decades after Jovinian's condemnation. Friends, such as Pammachius and Domnio, demanded that Jerome explain himself or retract his words. Enemies, such as Rufinus of Aquileia, suggested that Jerome was guilty of the ‘Manichaean’ heresy. Others, such as Pelagius, Augustine, and the anonymous author of the Consultationes Zacchaei et Apollonii, quietly offered alternative views, without condemning Jerome directly. These efforts to find a via media between Jerome and Jovinian show the ongoing impact of Jovinian's arguments and the need for a more moderate approach to marriage and celibacy than Jerome had provided. Conclusion Bibliography Index 2 of 2 PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com) © Copyright Oxford University Press, 2007. All Rights Reserved Hunter, David G. , Professor of Religious Studies and Monsignor James A. Supple Chair of Catholic Studies, Iowa State University Marriage, Celibacy, and Heresy in Ancient Christianity Print ISBN 9780199279784, 2007 pp. [vii] Preface In the later years of the fourth century an intense theological controversy occurred in Western Christianity over the issue of celibacy and marriage. At the centre of this debate stood a monk named Jovinian, who earned ecclesiastical condemnation for asserting that celibate and married Christians were equal in God's sight. Jovinian was opposed by some of the foremost churchmen of his day, among them Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine (all later named ‘doctors’ of the Latin Church). This book tells the story of Jovinian and the conflicts generated by his teaching. A word about the scope of my discussion is in order, for much of this book deals with figures and ideas that appeared prior to the time of Jovinian. Chapter 3, for example, begins with Jesus and Paul and concludes with Origen of Alexandria, and Chapter 4 ranges widely across the East and West in the fourth century. I deemed this approach necessary because I wished to place Jovinian within the context of the broader history of early Christian teaching on marriage and celibacy. One of the central arguments I develop is that although Jovinian was condemned as a ‘heretic’, he actually had much in common with previous Christian writers of impeccably ‘orthodox’ stripe. Conversely, I considered it necessary at times to trace the prehistory of ideas opposed by Jovinian (e.g. my discussion of Mary's virginitas in partu in Chapter 5), if only to demonstrate the marginal status of such ideas within the earlier tradition. Scholars of Christianity in late antiquity have produced an abundance of studies of ascetic behaviour, and especially sexual renunciation, in recent decades. But no one has yet directed comparable attention to the reverse phenomenon, that is, to the ways in which Christians questioned and challenged aspects of the ascetic ideal. My aim has been to retrieve some of these anti-ascetic tendencies in early Christianity and to demonstrate