Melania: Early Christianity Through the Life of One FamilyMelania the Elder and her granddaughter Melania the Younger were major figures in early Christian history, using their wealth, status, and forceful personalities to shape the development of nearly every aspect of the religion we now know as Christianity. This volume examines their influence on late antique ÊChristianity and provides an insightful portrait of their legacies in the modern world. Departing from the traditionally patriarchal view, Melania gives a poignant and sometimes surprising account of how the rise of Christian institutions in the Roman Empire shaped our understanding of womenÕs roles in the larger world. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
PART ONE ARISTOCRACY | 15 |
Namesake and Inheritance | 34 |
Exemplary Women | 50 |
PART TWO BODY AND FAMILY | 67 |
Wounded by Divine Love | 86 |
PART THREE GENDER AND MEMORY | 107 |
PART FOUR WISDOM AND HERESY | 149 |
PART FIVE IN THE HOLY PLACES | 203 |
Sing O Daughters of Zion | 222 |
PART SIX MODERNITIES | 241 |
Monastic Revivals | 260 |
The Future of Sainthood | 271 |
List of Contributors | 287 |
| 293 | |
| 325 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Acta anti-Chalcedonian aristocratic ascetic asceticism Augustine basilica bishop Brepols Butler Cambridge Cerf Chantbook Church claims Constantinian Constantinople Coptic Council of Chalcedon CSEL cultural death E. A. Clark Early Christian Studies Edited and translated Egypt elite Elizabeth empress Eudocia Evagrius Evagrius's female fifth century gender Gerontius Gerontius's Gorce Greek Gregory hagiography heresy Historia Lausiaca Homilies human hymns Ibid imperial Jerome Jerome's Jerusalem Journal of Early Late Ancient Christianity Late Antiquity Latin Lausiac History letters Liber Pontificalis Liturgy lives male martyrs Mela Melania the Elder Melania the Younger memory Metaphor monastery monastic monasticism monks mother narrative NPNF Origenist Controversy orthodoxy Oxford University Press Palladius Palladius's Paris Passio Patrologia Graeca Paula Paulinus of Nola Pelagius Pinian Rampolla Renoux renunciation role Roman Rome Rufinus sainte Mélanie Santa Melania scholars sexual social spiritual story theological tion trans Vie de sainte Virgin Vita Melaniae Iunioris wealth woman women wound