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Available
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Publication
Penguin Classics (2010), Paperback, 288 pages
Description
'Perpetua shouted out with joy as the sword pierced her, for she wanted to taste some of the pain and she even guided the hesitant hand of the trainee gladiator towards her own throat' Lives of Roman Christian Women is a unique collection of letters and documents from the third to the fifth centuries, celebrating Christian women from across the Roman Empire. During a crucial period in which Christianity transformed from a persecuted faith to the official religion of the Empire, these writings reveal the women who chose to dedicate their lives to Christ, by embracing martyrdom or by adopting a life of poverty and prayer, renouncing not only wealth but also their duties as wives and mothers.
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LibraryThing member JDHomrighausen
[Lives of Roman Christian Women], ed. [[Carolinne White]]
Two chapters of this book were assigned reading for my Roman Empire class last quarter - but it was so interesting I read the rest of it. White has collected a great selection of works from the first 3-4 centuries of Christianity that
Half of the selections in the book are by Jerome, who was known for being a spiritual and intellectual mentor for wealthy Roman widows. Jerome, despite being perhaps the greatest biblical scholar of patristic Christianity, was also a difficult man to be around. It was said that Paula the Elder, who he writes a forty-page paean to, was the only person who could put up with his moods and soothe his temper. (This was, of course, further proof of her holiness.) This book also includes his "Education of Little Paula," exhorting the parents of this young girl to shield her from idle gossip, educate her only in Christian authors, and rarely let her leave the house for fear of spoiling her virtue.
From a faith perspective, some of the stuff in here was hard to connect with. Paula the Elder's abandonment of her children for the sake of her leaving society and becoming a wandering ascetic? Nope. If Paula tried that today she's be tried for child neglect. I do not resonate with miracles of martyrs very much either. But it is hard to not be inspired by some of the exemplars of holiness in this book, especially when described in Jerome's brilliant rhetoric so crammed with biblical allusions.
Thankfully, Penguin Book has another volume titled [Early Christian Lives], so I can read up on mens' lives too. Even better, it's the same translator and editor, British scholar Carolinne White, whose introduction to this volume was illuminating and readable.
Two chapters of this book were assigned reading for my Roman Empire class last quarter - but it was so interesting I read the rest of it. White has collected a great selection of works from the first 3-4 centuries of Christianity that
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describe individual women and the lives they led. Like much of women's' history, we have little in their own voices, but much description in mens' writings. The writings in this book range from famous patristic authors such as Gregory of Nyssa and Jerome, down to ones I had never heard of such as Palladius. They range from eulogistic letters to advice on how to raise a virtuous daughter to a story of two women martyrs and the miracles surrounding them.Half of the selections in the book are by Jerome, who was known for being a spiritual and intellectual mentor for wealthy Roman widows. Jerome, despite being perhaps the greatest biblical scholar of patristic Christianity, was also a difficult man to be around. It was said that Paula the Elder, who he writes a forty-page paean to, was the only person who could put up with his moods and soothe his temper. (This was, of course, further proof of her holiness.) This book also includes his "Education of Little Paula," exhorting the parents of this young girl to shield her from idle gossip, educate her only in Christian authors, and rarely let her leave the house for fear of spoiling her virtue.
From a faith perspective, some of the stuff in here was hard to connect with. Paula the Elder's abandonment of her children for the sake of her leaving society and becoming a wandering ascetic? Nope. If Paula tried that today she's be tried for child neglect. I do not resonate with miracles of martyrs very much either. But it is hard to not be inspired by some of the exemplars of holiness in this book, especially when described in Jerome's brilliant rhetoric so crammed with biblical allusions.
Thankfully, Penguin Book has another volume titled [Early Christian Lives], so I can read up on mens' lives too. Even better, it's the same translator and editor, British scholar Carolinne White, whose introduction to this volume was illuminating and readable.
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Language
Physical description
288 p.; 7.72 inches
ISBN
0141441933 / 9780141441931