Virgin Territory: Configuring Female Virginity in Early Christianity Volume 13, Hardcover/Julia Kelto Lillis

Women's virginity held tremendous significance in early Christianity and the Mediterranean world. Early Christian thinkers developed diverse definitions of virginity and understood its bodily aspects in surprising, often nonanatomical ways. Eventually Christians took part in a cross-cultural shift toward viewing virginity as something that could be perceived in women's sex organs. Treating virginity as anatomical brought both benefits and costs. By charting this change and situating it in the larger landscape of ancient thought, Virgin Territory illuminates unrecognized differences among early Christian sources and historicizes problematic ideas about women's bodies that still persist today. Julia Kelto Lillis is Assistant Professor of Early Church History at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. Book specifications: Collection: Christianity in Late Antiquity Dimensions: 234 x 150 Author: Julia Kelto Lillis Cover type: Hardcover Publishing Year: 2022 Publishing Month: 12 Pages: 290 Language: English Publisher: University of California Press Weight: 481 g