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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... society, or in the history of Christianity. Judith Perkins is Professor of Classics and Humanities at Saint Joseph College, West Hartford, Connecticut. THE SUFFERING SELF Pain and Narrative Representation in the Early.
... society, or in the history of Christianity. Judith Perkins is Professor of Classics and Humanities at Saint Joseph College, West Hartford, Connecticut. THE SUFFERING SELF Pain and Narrative Representation in the Early.
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... society, interested in philosophy and religion, an eminent orator in a culture that celebrated oratorical ability, author of the novel, the Metamorphoses. What caught my attention in this instance was how he chose to present himself to ...
... society, interested in philosophy and religion, an eminent orator in a culture that celebrated oratorical ability, author of the novel, the Metamorphoses. What caught my attention in this instance was how he chose to present himself to ...
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... society never just float free. They are informed by, and they help to constitute, the society's particular preoccupations and intentions. In this study I want to identify a particular preoccupation in the discursive climate of the early ...
... society never just float free. They are informed by, and they help to constitute, the society's particular preoccupations and intentions. In this study I want to identify a particular preoccupation in the discursive climate of the early ...
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... societies. In Janet Wolff's words: “the social world cannot be conceptualized as having some independent existence, but rather has to be understood as a provisionally stable and constantly reconstituted complex of discourses, processes ...
... societies. In Janet Wolff's words: “the social world cannot be conceptualized as having some independent existence, but rather has to be understood as a provisionally stable and constantly reconstituted complex of discourses, processes ...
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... societies, for example, no longer concentrate exclusively on the roles of kings or emperors or the actions of armies or states, but focus instead on the discursive practices through which persons in a society learn to apprehend ...
... societies, for example, no longer concentrate exclusively on the roles of kings or emperors or the actions of armies or states, but focus instead on the discursive practices through which persons in a society learn to apprehend ...
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