medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Eunuch-related greetings to all,
the mapping the field -kind of introductory article on medieval eunuchs in Bullough - Brundage (eds): Handbook of Medieval Sexuality is quite impassable as an overall reference-collection.
All in all, this particular "handbook" is more than just a handbook in many themes of medieval sexual matters.
-Tom
----- Original Message -----
From: John Dillon <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 9:23 am
Subject: Re: [M-R] Eunuchs East and West
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
> culture
> Try Virginia Burrus, _‘Begotten, Not Made’: Conceiving Manhood in
> Late Antiquity_ (Stanford U.P., 2000) and Mathew Kuefler, _The
> Manly Eunuch: Masculinity, Gender Ambiguity, and Christian
> Ideology in Late Antiquity_ (Univ. of Chicago Pr., 2001).
>
> Kuefler's book received a negative review from Conrad Leyser in
> _Journal of Roman Studies_ 93 (2003), 415-16 and a favorable one
> from Burrus in _Journal of Religion_ 83 (2003), 135-36.
>
> Best,
> John Dillon
>
>
> On Monday, December 17, 2007, at 11:39 pm, Kevin Jang wrote:
>
> > I am not sure if I am going on a bit of a wild goose chase here
> in my
> > research. But I am trying to cast the net wide here. While
> reading the
> > New Testament, in Matthew 19:12, " "For there are some eunuchs,
> which
> > were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some
> eunuchs
> > which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have
> made
> > themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is
> able
> > to receive it, let him receive it." (Matthew 19:12 KJV). I am
> > particularly intrigued by the idea of such links of the
> > eunuch(spiritual or literal figure of speech) to the phenomenon
> of
> > voluntary celibacy within the early medieval and late medieval
> phases
> > of Christendom,particularly in cases like the encratitism of the
> East
> > and also the high Middle Ages with ambiguous figures like Robert
> of
> > Arbrissel who was actually associated with the founding of
> houses for
> > laywomen who desired to escape the confines of their immediate
> > surroundings(social and economic), including pr!
> > ostitutes. So far, I have only arrived at one particular study
> of
> > this field of voluntary celibacy and it is concentrated mainly
> in the
> > period of the Carolingian Reform, namely Dyan Eliott's
> "Spiritual
> > Marriage".
> >
> > Are any of the members here aware of any primary and secondary
> > materials written in this field? On my own end, I am most aware
> of
> > Augustine of Hippo's admiration for the priesthood, and the
> monastic
> > orders, and also, his earlier Christian predecessor in the
> method of
> > Biblical exegesis, Origen, who spurred off considerable
> controversy
> > not only with his beliefs of the pre-existence of the soul, but
> also,
> > his voluntary castration of himself so as to kill the sin of
> fleshly
> > lust literally. I would be interested in hearing what members
> here
> > have to say about this phenomenon of the eunuch(metaphorical or
> > literal) in both the Byzantine East and the Latn West during the
> > Middle Ages.
> >
> > Thank you.
> >
> > Kevin Jang
>
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