Gendering War and Peace in the Gospel of Luke
Gendering War and Peace in the Gospel of Luke
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USDIn this book, Caryn A. Reeder examines the gendered language and imagery of war and peace in the Gospel of Luke. Peace is represented with the blessing of fertility, pregnancy, and newborn infants. Pregnant and nursing women, women and children in general, and feminized Jerusalem also represent the horrors of war in the Gospel - abandoned, crushed to the ground, subject to woe and distress, to the point that barren wombs and dry breasts become a blessing. Reeder argues that the representation of peace with pregnant women and newborn infants, the most vulnerable in the population, indicates that victory belongs to God. This message is clarified by the encouragement of surrender and flight from besieged Jerusalem, rather than an active defense. Notably, there are no men to defend Jerusalem in Luke's warnings of war. The Gospel undermines the masculinization of war commonly found in Greco-Roman texts by redirecting the means of making peace from the violence of victory to the unmanly act of surrender.
- Examines the gendered language and imagery of war and peace in the Gospel of Luke
- Develops an understanding of the definition of femininity and childhood around the violence of war in the biblical and classical worlds ('militarized femininity' and 'militarized childishness')
- Surveys the presence and participation of women and children in stories of war in the Roman world
Reviews & endorsements
'Reeder provides an impressive analysis of the extant ancient evidence of the role gender played in the issues of peace and war in the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Hebrew traditions.' J. R. Asher, Choice
‘Reeder’s insightful, creative, and nuanced work will reward close reading and careful study.’ Todd Penner, Reading Religion
Product details
September 2018Adobe eBook Reader
9781108579667
0 pages
This ISBN is for an eBook version which is distributed on our behalf by a third party.
Table of Contents
- 1. War and peace in the Gospel of Luke
- 2. Gender, age, and the violence of war
- 3. Facing a siege
- 4. Ending a siege
- 5. Women, children, and the iconography of peace and war
- 6. Luke's warnings of war
- Appendix: the vocabulary of siege warfare in Luke 19:41-44 and 21:20-24.
