The Suffering Self: Pain and Narrative Representation in the Early Christian EraThe Suffering Self is a ground-breaking, interdisciplinary study of the spread of Christianity across the Roman empire. Judith Perkins shows how Christian narrative representation in the early empire worked to create a new kind of human self-understanding - the perception of the self as sufferer. Drawing on feminist and social theory, she addresses the question of why forms of suffering like martyrdom and self-mutilation were so important to early Christians. This study crosses the boundaries between ancient history and the study of early Christianity, seeing Christian representation in the context of the Greco-Roman world. She draws parallels with suffering heroines in Greek novels and in martyr acts and examines representations in medical and philosophical texts. Judith Perkins' controversial study is important reading for all those interested in ancient society, or in the history `f Christianity. |
From inside the book
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Page 2
... described as bodies experiencing pain, as sufferers in the discourses of martyrs, doctors, and Asclepius worshipers. Medical discourse by its nature is full of such images, and the second century is a period of a pronounced general ...
... described as bodies experiencing pain, as sufferers in the discourses of martyrs, doctors, and Asclepius worshipers. Medical discourse by its nature is full of such images, and the second century is a period of a pronounced general ...
Page 11
... described how in fifth-century Alexandria, for example, the patriarch acquired for his use what nearly amounted to a civil militia for he “commanded, in effect, a hand-picked force of some five hundred men with strong arms and backs ...
... described how in fifth-century Alexandria, for example, the patriarch acquired for his use what nearly amounted to a civil militia for he “commanded, in effect, a hand-picked force of some five hundred men with strong arms and backs ...
Page 16
... described as attending Peregrinus, bringing him food and books, even spending the night with him. Lucian's description emphasized the crowds of Christians coming to the prison to support their leader, and demonstrated that these public ...
... described as attending Peregrinus, bringing him food and books, even spending the night with him. Lucian's description emphasized the crowds of Christians coming to the prison to support their leader, and demonstrated that these public ...
Page 18
... described how, after the great fire in Rome, Nero picked out as “culprits and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty a class of men, loathed for their views, whom the crowd called Christian” (15.44). Tacitus said these ...
... described how, after the great fire in Rome, Nero picked out as “culprits and punished with the utmost refinements of cruelty a class of men, loathed for their views, whom the crowd called Christian” (15.44). Tacitus said these ...
Page 19
... described: drawing their faith from parables and miracles, and yet sometimes acting in the same way as those who practice philosophy. For their contempt of death and of its sequel is patent to us every day, and likewise their restraint ...
... described: drawing their faith from parables and miracles, and yet sometimes acting in the same way as those who practice philosophy. For their contempt of death and of its sequel is patent to us every day, and likewise their restraint ...
Contents
1 | |
15 | |
2 Marriages as Happy Endings
| 41 |
3 Pain Without Effect
| 77 |
4 Suffering and Power
| 104 |
The Acts of Peter
| 124 |
6 The Sick Self
| 142 |
7 Ideology Not Pathology
| 173 |
The Community of Sufferers
| 200 |
Notes | 215 |
Bibliography | 228 |
Index | 247 |
Other editions - View all
The Suffering Self: Pain and Narrative Representation in the Early Christian Era Judith Perkins No preview available - 1995 |
Common terms and phrases
Achilles Tatius actions Acts of Peter Aelius Aristides ancient Anthia Aristides Asclepius Blandina bodily Callirhoe Chaereas Chariton chastity Christ Christian community Christian discourse Christianity’s civic Clitophon constructed contemporary context Contra Celsum couple’s cultural death Democritus demonstrated depicted described Dinocrates displayed divine doctors dream early empire elite emperor emphasis endurance Epictetus Eudemus example explained explicitly father focus focused Foucault function Galen genre god’s Greek romances Habrocomes hagiography healing Hermocrates human ideological Ignatius individual Justin knowledge Konstan Leucippe Leucippe and Clitophon Lives Lucian MacMullen Marcellus Marcus Aurelius marriage martyr Acts martyrdom medicine Melite nature novel offered pagan pain particular Peregrinus period Perpetua persecution person philosopher physical pirates plot Prognosis prohairesis readers recognized rejected representation represented resurrection role Roman empire saints second century sick Simon slave social society society’s soul Stoic suffering body suggested traditional understanding wellborn woman Xenophon