Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-20T06:36:54.720Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - The Early Christian Rhetoric

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2009

Stephanie Lynn Budin
Affiliation:
Rutgers University, New Jersey
Get access

Summary

Even more numerous than passages from strabo in the historiography of ancient sacred prostitution are the references that appear in the early Christian literature. Although different scholars cite different passages as referring to sacred prostitution, a “complete” list includes no fewer than 10 authors: Paul of Tarsus, Clement of Alexandria, Arnobius of Sicca, Lactantius, Eusebius of Caesaria, Athanasius of Alexandria, Firmicus Maternus, Augustine of Hippo, Sokrates Scholasticus, and Sozomen. Each one of these has been used to support the notion of sacred prostitution existing in one of the regions mentioned previously in this work – St. Paul for Corinth, Clement and Lactantius for Cyprus, Athanasius and Augustine for Phoenicia.

Nevertheless, the evidence derived from the early Christian sources is not entirely credible. Although St. Paul does discuss the problems of pornoi and porneia in the congregation at Corinth, he himself never refers to any links with the local cult of Venus. Furthermore, as recent scholars such as R. Kirchhoff and K. Gaca have discussed, Paul's definition(s) of the terms pornos and porneia are quite distinct from the traditional pagan (and modern) meanings, and thus must be categorized and studied differently.

Then there is the biased nature of the writings. With the (slight) exception of Eusebius and his “followers” Sokrates and Sozomen, who were composing church histories, each of the remaining texts supposedly referring to sacred prostitution is accusational, ranging in genre from apologetic, as with Lactantius, to polemic, as with Firmicus Maternus.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×