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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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