Saving Shame: Martyrs, Saints, and Other Abject Subjects
5/5
()
About this ebook
Virginia Burrus explores one of the strongest and most disturbing aspects of the Christian tradition, its excessive preoccupation with shame. While Christianity has frequently been implicated in the conversion of ancient Mediterranean cultures from shame- to guilt-based and, thus, in the emergence of the modern West's emphasis on guilt, Burrus seeks to recuperate the importance of shame for Christian culture. Focusing on late antiquity, she explores a range of fascinating phenomena, from the flamboyant performances of martyrs to the imagined abjection of Christ, from the self-humiliating disciplines of ascetics to the intimate disclosures of Augustine.
Burrus argues that Christianity innovated less by replacing shame with guilt than by embracing shame. Indeed, the ancient Christians sacrificed honor but laid claim to their own shame with great energy, at once intensifying and transforming it. Public spectacles of martyrdom became the most visible means through which vulnerability to shame was converted into a defiant witness of identity; this was also where the sacrificial death of the self exemplified by Christ's crucifixion was most explicitly appropriated by his followers. Shame showed a more private face as well, as Burrus demonstrates. The ambivalent lure of fleshly corruptibility was explored in the theological imaginary of incarnational Christology. It was further embodied in the transgressive disciplines of saints who plumbed the depths of humiliation. Eventually, with the advent of literary and monastic confessional practices, the shame of sin's inexhaustibility made itself heard in the revelations of testimonial discourse.
In conversation with an eclectic constellation of theorists, Burrus interweaves her historical argument with theological, psychological, and ethical reflections. She proposes, finally, that early Christian texts may have much to teach us about the secrets of shame that lie at the heart of our capacity for humility, courage, and transformative love.
Virginia Burrus
Virginia Burrus is the Bishop W. Earl Ledden Professor of Religion at Syracuse University. Her teaching and research interests in the field of ancient Christianity include gender, asceticism, constructions of orthodoxy and heresy, and the history of theology. She is currently president of the North American Patristics Society and co-editor of the University of Pennsylvania Press series Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion. She is the author of six books, including Seducing Augustine: Bodies, Desires, Confessions (Fordham University Press, 2010), co-written with Mark Jordan and Karmen MacKendrick; and Sex Lives of Saints: An Erotics of Ancient Hagiography (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004). She is also coeditor, with Catherine Keller, of Toward a Theology of Eros: Transfiguring Passion of the Limits of Discipline (Fordham University Press, 2006).
Read more from Virginia Burrus
The Sex Lives of Saints: An Erotics of Ancient Hagiography Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAncient Christian Ecopoetics: Cosmologies, Saints, Things Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Saving Shame
Related ebooks
Crispina and Her Sisters: Women and Authority in Early Christianity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDisputed Messiahs: Jewish and Christian Messianism in the Ashkenazic World during the Reformation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmpowering the People: Jesus, Healing, and Exorcism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond the Centaur: Imagining the Intelligent Body Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCarnal Knowledge of God: Embodied Love and the Movement for Justice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsToward a Theology of Eros: Transfiguring Passion at the Limits of Discipline Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBouncing Back: Queer Resilience in Twentieth and Twenty-First Century English Literature and Culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Oldest Vocation: Christian Motherhood in the Medieval West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Faith: A Spiritual Humanist Alternative for Christianity and the West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Good Things Happen in the Dark: A Candid Manifesto for Courageous Authenticity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAesthetics of Sorrow: The Wailing Culture of Yemenite Jewish Women Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlesh Made Word: Medieval Women Mystics, Writing, and the Incarnation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeeking Sophia: Meditations and reflections for women who no longer go to church Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIntersecting Realities: Race, Identity, and Culture in the Spiritual-Moral Life of Young Asian Americans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPilgrim Interrupted Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSacrifice and Atonement: Psychological Motives and Biblical Patterns Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eve Isn't Evil: Feminist Readings of the Bible to Upend Our Assumptions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistory through Trauma: History and Counter-History in the Hebrew Bible Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCitizen-Saints: Shakespeare and Political Theology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEntangled Histories: Knowledge, Authority, and Jewish Culture in the Thirteenth Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDestabilizing the Margins: An Intersectional Approach to Early Christian Memory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Thing about Religion: An Introduction to the Material Study of Religions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBurning Bodies: Communities, Eschatology, and the Punishment of Heresy in the Middle Ages Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBloodless Atonement?: A Theological and Exegetical Study of the Last Supper Sayings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThou Art the Man: The Masculinity of David in the Christian and Jewish Middle Ages Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVisionary Women: Three Medieval Mystics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sacred Dissonance: The Blessing of Difference in Jewish-Christian Dialogue Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Christianity For You
The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Uninvited: Living Loved When You Feel Less Than, Left Out, and Lonely Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Brain's Not Broken: Strategies for Navigating Your Emotions and Life with ADHD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Holy Bible (World English Bible, Easy Navigation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Enoch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Winning the War in Your Mind: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Boundaries Updated and Expanded Edition: When to Say Yes, How to Say No To Take Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bible Recap: A One-Year Guide to Reading and Understanding the Entire Bible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are so You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex: Creating a Marriage That's Both Holy and Hot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth: Fourth Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Don't Give the Enemy a Seat at Your Table: It's Time to Win the Battle of Your Mind... Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mere Christianity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Screwtape Letters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Lead When You're Not in Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boundaries Workbook: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Law of Connection: Lesson 10 from The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild at Heart Expanded Edition: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Changes That Heal: Four Practical Steps to a Happier, Healthier You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I'll Start Again Monday: Break the Cycle of Unhealthy Eating Habits with Lasting Spiritual Satisfaction Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good Boundaries and Goodbyes: Loving Others Without Losing the Best of Who You Are Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Saving Shame
1 rating0 reviews