The Making of a Heretic: Gender, Authority, and the Priscillianist ControversySilenced for 1,600 years, the "heretics" speak for themselves in this account of the Priscillianist controversy that began in fourth-century Spain. In a close examination of rediscovered texts, Virginia Burrus provides an unusual opportunity to explore heresy from the point of view of the followers of Priscillian and to reevaluate the reliability of the historical record. Her analysis takes into account the concepts of gender, authority, and public and private space that informed established religion's response to this early Christian movement. Priscillian, who began his career as a lay teacher with particular influence among women, faced charges of heresy along with accusations of sorcery and sexual immorality following his ordination to the episcopacy. He was executed along with several of his followers circa 386. His purportedly "gnostic" doctrines produced controversy and division within the churches of Spain, dissension that continued into the early decades of the fifth century. Burrus's thorough and wide-ranging study enlarges upon previous scholarship, particularly in bringing a feminist perspective to bear on the gendered constructions of religious orthodoxies, making a valuable contribution to the recent commentary that explores new ways of looking at early Christian controversies. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1996. Many titles in the Voices Revived program are also newly available as ebooks, offered at a discounted price to support wider access to scholarly work. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Opposition Emerges at the Council of Saragossa | 25 |
Charge and Countercharge in Priscillians Tractates | 47 |
Alliances Enmities and the Death of Priscillian | 79 |
Heresy Inquisitions at Toledo and Tarragona | 102 |
Priscillian Reinterpreted by Sulpicius Severus and Jerome | 126 |
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Common terms and phrases
accusations Ambrose Ambrose's apocryphal Apology ascetic ascetic women asceticism Augustine Ausonius authority Babut Bordeaux canon Chadwick charges Christ Christian community Chron church cillian clergy Concilio condemned conflict Consentius context cosmology Council of Saragossa Council of Toledo Damasus defend Delphinus Díaz Dictinius ecclesiastical emperor episcopacy episcopal Euchrotia Exemplar female fourth-century Fronto Galician Gallic Gaul gender gnostic Gratian heresy heretics hierarchy Homoian Hydatius Ibid identified imperial Instantius interpretation invoke Irenaeus Ithacius Jerome's judgment label Late Antiquity late-ancient late-fourth-century Letter to Damasus male Manichaeans Manichaeism Martin Maximus Merida Milan monks opponents Origenist orthodoxy Paulinus portrait of Priscillian presbyter Primuliacum Pris Priscil Priscillian of Avila Priscillianist Priscillianist controversy private sphere pro-Nicene Ramos y Loscertales reading reference rescript rhetorical role Roman Rome Sagittius scriptures seems Severus and Jerome sexual social sorcery Spain strategies suggests Sulpicius Severus Syagrius Symphosius Tarragona teachers theological tion Tract tractates tradition Trier Vigilantius virgins Zaragoza