The Bible and Cultural Studies

Niederer Saxon, Deborah

This book presents the first three Christian centuries through the lens of what Foucault called “the care of the self.” This lens reveals a rich variation among early Christ movements by illuminating their practices instead of focusing on what we anachronistically assume to have been their beliefs. A deep analysis of the discourse of martyrdom demonstrates how writers like Clement, Ignatius, and Polycarp represented self-care. Deborah Niederer Saxon brings to light an entire spectrum of alternative views represented in newly-discovered texts from Nag Hammadi and elsewhere. This insightful analysis has implications for feminist scholarship and exposes the false binary of thinking in terms of “orthodoxy” versus “heresy”/”Gnosticism.”

Details

Published by: Palgrave Macmillan

Publication Date: 2018-08-15

Format: Paperback

ISBN-13: 9783319878614

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-64750-0

Dimensions: 210cm x148cm

Pages: 213