Christus Virgo
Representations of Christ as a Virgin in Early Christianity and Late Antiquity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.v41i2.22Keywords:
virginity, sexuality, Christ, genderAbstract
The description of Christ as a virgin, 'Christus virgo', does occur at rare occasions in Early Christian and late antique texts. Considering that 'virgo' was a term that most commonly described the sexual and moral status of a member of the female sex, such representations of Christ as a virgin may exemplify some of the complex negotiations over gender, salvation, sanctity and Christology that we find in the writings of the Church fathers. The article provides some suggestions as to how we can understand the notion of the virgin Christ within the context of early Christian and late antique theological debates on the one hand, and in light of the growing interest in sacred virginity on the other.
References
Adkin, Neil. 2003. Jerome on Virginity: A Commentary on the Libellus de virginitate servanda (Letter 22). ARCA 42. Cambridge: Francis Cairns.
Ambrose of Milan. 1989. Opera Omnia di Sant’Ambrogio: Verginità e vedovanza. Edited and translated by Franco Gori. Biblioteca Ambrosiana 14 (1-2). Milan: Città nouva editrice
———. Sancti Ambrosii Opera Omnia, Patrologia Latina vol. 16, Ed. J.-P. Migne.
Brakke, David. 2003. “The Lady Appears: Materializations of ‘Woman’ in Early Monastic Literature.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 33:387–402.
Brown, Peter. 1988. The Body and Society: Men, Women and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity. New York: Columbia University Press.
Burrus, Virginia. 2005. “Mimicking Virgins: Colonial Ambivalence and the Ancient Romance.” Arethusa 38: 49-88.
Camelot, P.-Th. 1952. “Les traités ‘De virginitate’ au IVe siècle.” Mystique et continence: travaux scientifiques du VIIe Congrés International d’Avon. Paris: Desclee de Brouwer.
Cameron, Averil. 1989. “Virginity as Metaphor: Women and the Rhetoric of Early Christianity.” In History as Text: The Writing of Ancient History, edited by A. Cameron, 184–205. London: Duckworth.
Castelli, Elisabeth. 1991. “‘I Will Make Mary Male’: Pieties of the Body and Gender Transformation of Christian Women in Late Antiquity.” In Bodyguards: The Cultural Politics of Gender Ambiguity, edited by Julia Epstein and Kristina Staub, 29–49. New York: Routledge.
Clark, Elisabeth A.1999. Reading Renunciation: Asceticism and Scripture in Early Christianity. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Cyprian. 1979 [1886]. “The Epistles of Cyprian in Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix.” Translated by Ernest Wallis. In The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Translations of The Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325, Vol. 5, edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Davis, Stephen J. 2002. “Crossed Texts, Crossed Sex: Intertextuality and Gender in Early Christian Legends of Holy Women Disguised as Men.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 10:1-36.
Foucault, Michel. (1980) 1999. “Sexuality and Solitude.” In Religion and Culture by Michel Foucault. Edited by Jeremy R. Carrette. Manchester: Mancester University Press.
Goldhill, Simon. 1995. Foucault’s Virginity: Ancient Erotic Fiction and the History of Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jerome. Letters and Select Works. Translated by W. H. Fremantle. NPNF 2 vol. 6
———. Opera Onmia Hieronymi Stridonensis Patrologia Latina vol. 23, Ed. J.-P. Migne.
John Cassian. 2000. “The Institutes.” Translated and annotated by Boniface Ramsey. In Ancient Christian Writers: The works of the Fathers in Translation, No. 58. New York: The Newman Press, .
———. Joannis Cassiani Abbatis Massiliensis de coenobiorum insitutis libri duodecim, Patrologia Latina vol. 49, Ed. J.-P. Migne.
Kelly, Kathleen Coyne. 2000. Performing Virginity and Testing Chastity in the Middle Ages. London: Routledge
Kuefler, Mathew. 2001. The Manly Eunuch: Masculinity, Gender Ambiguity, and Christian Ideology in Late Antiquity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Martin, Dale B. 2006. Sex and the Single Savior: Gender and Sexuality in Biblical Interpretation. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
McInerney, Maud Burnett. 2003. Eloquent Virgins from Thecla to Joan of Arc. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Ronald F. Hock. 1995. The Infancy Gospels of James and Thomas. The Scholars Bible, 2. Santa Rosa, Calif.: Polebridge Press.
Shaw, Teresa M. 1998. The Burden of the Flesh: Fasting and Sexuality in Early Christianity. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Tertullian. (1903) 1989. The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325, Vols. 3 and 4. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
———. Opera Omnia Tertulliani, Patrologia Latina vol. 1 and 2, Edited by J.-P. Migne.
Undheim, Sissel. 2011. “Sanctae Virginitates. Sacred and Consecrated Virginities in Late Roman Antiquity.” PhD thesis, University of Bergen, Norway.
Økland, Jorunn. 2003. “Sex, Gender and Ancient Greek: A Case-Study in Theological Misfit.” Studia Theologica 57:124–142.
Ambrose of Milan. 1989. Opera Omnia di Sant’Ambrogio: Verginità e vedovanza. Edited and translated by Franco Gori. Biblioteca Ambrosiana 14 (1-2). Milan: Città nouva editrice
———. Sancti Ambrosii Opera Omnia, Patrologia Latina vol. 16, Ed. J.-P. Migne.
Brakke, David. 2003. “The Lady Appears: Materializations of ‘Woman’ in Early Monastic Literature.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 33:387–402.
Brown, Peter. 1988. The Body and Society: Men, Women and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity. New York: Columbia University Press.
Burrus, Virginia. 2005. “Mimicking Virgins: Colonial Ambivalence and the Ancient Romance.” Arethusa 38: 49-88.
Camelot, P.-Th. 1952. “Les traités ‘De virginitate’ au IVe siècle.” Mystique et continence: travaux scientifiques du VIIe Congrés International d’Avon. Paris: Desclee de Brouwer.
Cameron, Averil. 1989. “Virginity as Metaphor: Women and the Rhetoric of Early Christianity.” In History as Text: The Writing of Ancient History, edited by A. Cameron, 184–205. London: Duckworth.
Castelli, Elisabeth. 1991. “‘I Will Make Mary Male’: Pieties of the Body and Gender Transformation of Christian Women in Late Antiquity.” In Bodyguards: The Cultural Politics of Gender Ambiguity, edited by Julia Epstein and Kristina Staub, 29–49. New York: Routledge.
Clark, Elisabeth A.1999. Reading Renunciation: Asceticism and Scripture in Early Christianity. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Cyprian. 1979 [1886]. “The Epistles of Cyprian in Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian, Appendix.” Translated by Ernest Wallis. In The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Translations of The Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325, Vol. 5, edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Davis, Stephen J. 2002. “Crossed Texts, Crossed Sex: Intertextuality and Gender in Early Christian Legends of Holy Women Disguised as Men.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 10:1-36.
Foucault, Michel. (1980) 1999. “Sexuality and Solitude.” In Religion and Culture by Michel Foucault. Edited by Jeremy R. Carrette. Manchester: Mancester University Press.
Goldhill, Simon. 1995. Foucault’s Virginity: Ancient Erotic Fiction and the History of Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jerome. Letters and Select Works. Translated by W. H. Fremantle. NPNF 2 vol. 6
———. Opera Onmia Hieronymi Stridonensis Patrologia Latina vol. 23, Ed. J.-P. Migne.
John Cassian. 2000. “The Institutes.” Translated and annotated by Boniface Ramsey. In Ancient Christian Writers: The works of the Fathers in Translation, No. 58. New York: The Newman Press, .
———. Joannis Cassiani Abbatis Massiliensis de coenobiorum insitutis libri duodecim, Patrologia Latina vol. 49, Ed. J.-P. Migne.
Kelly, Kathleen Coyne. 2000. Performing Virginity and Testing Chastity in the Middle Ages. London: Routledge
Kuefler, Mathew. 2001. The Manly Eunuch: Masculinity, Gender Ambiguity, and Christian Ideology in Late Antiquity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Martin, Dale B. 2006. Sex and the Single Savior: Gender and Sexuality in Biblical Interpretation. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.
McInerney, Maud Burnett. 2003. Eloquent Virgins from Thecla to Joan of Arc. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Ronald F. Hock. 1995. The Infancy Gospels of James and Thomas. The Scholars Bible, 2. Santa Rosa, Calif.: Polebridge Press.
Shaw, Teresa M. 1998. The Burden of the Flesh: Fasting and Sexuality in Early Christianity. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
Tertullian. (1903) 1989. The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325, Vols. 3 and 4. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
———. Opera Omnia Tertulliani, Patrologia Latina vol. 1 and 2, Edited by J.-P. Migne.
Undheim, Sissel. 2011. “Sanctae Virginitates. Sacred and Consecrated Virginities in Late Roman Antiquity.” PhD thesis, University of Bergen, Norway.
Økland, Jorunn. 2003. “Sex, Gender and Ancient Greek: A Case-Study in Theological Misfit.” Studia Theologica 57:124–142.
Published
2012-04-12
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Undheim, S. (2012). Christus Virgo: Representations of Christ as a Virgin in Early Christianity and Late Antiquity. Bulletin for the Study of Religion, 41(2), 22-27. https://doi.org/10.1558/bsor.v41i2.22
