American Society of Church History

Review
Reviewed Work(s): Sex and Salvation: Virginity as a Soteriological Paradigm in Ancient
Christianity by Roger Steven Evans
Review by: Bonnie MacLachlan
Source: Church History, Vol. 75, No. 1 (Mar., 2006), pp. 166-168
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Society of Church
History
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/27644720
Accessed: 11-08-2023 21:50 +00:00

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

American Society of Church History, Cambridge University Press are collaborating with
JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Church History

This content downloaded from 154.59.124.141 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 21:50:23 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 166 CHURCH HISTORY

the position of superiority in relation to a concept of superstition still framed

as the worshipful fear of such demons. In the works of Eusebius of Caesarea
(an admirer of Origen who lived during Constantine's conversion to Chris
tianity) we witness the crucial role played by demonology in the articulation
of an imperialist Christian theology that claims to supersede both Jewish
particularism and pagan superstition. With this move, suggests Martin, Eu
sebius has "turned the tables" within the power-charged discourse of super
stition.
In his concluding chapter, Martin boldly links the rise and fall of the
"grand optimal illusion"?of which "superstition" is the abjected byprod
uct?with the rise and fall of democratic polity. Ancient political philosophies
advocating for a balance of power found such balance mirrored in nature: the
physical universe, permeated by benign divinity, was, on this reading, the
best of all possible worlds. By late antiquity, however, such confidence had
eroded. Under the empire, power was experienced as ambivalent, as often
evil as good. Even gods or daimones?"demons"?might act oppressively,
and the best protection was a powerful patron, whether human or divine.
Fear of demons was no longer deemed irrational?that is, "superstitious"?
and divine power was construed not as "natural" but as "supernatural."
Christianity did not bring about this change. Its success did, however, lie
crucially in its capacity to respond to it.
Each of the individual parts of the historical argument of this book is
significant, yet its startling originality lies in the way that Martin has drawn
the parts together into such a masterful whole. While some readers may not
be persuaded by the close connections (or by the particular connections) that
Martin makes between political ideologies and cosmological theories, every
one should find his closing speculations stimulating?not least because of the
resonant collusions of imperialism, demonology, and theology in our own
context. Moreover, Martin's style leaves his readers room to draw their own
conclusions. The tone is teacherly. (Perhaps appropriately for a study that
spans so much history and thus several fields of scholarship, little specialized
knowledge is assumed.) The approach is closely textual. (Indeed, much of
this book consists of helpful summaries of the contents of relevant ancient
texts.) Some scholars will surely regret the modesty of annotations and
engagement of scholarly literature that also characterizes other recent Har
vard University Press publications. The potential payoff of this choice is,
however, a sophisticated book that will prove inviting to a broader reader
ship and will certainly lend itself well to classroom use.
Virginia Burrus
Drew University

Sex and Salvation: Virginity as a Soteriological Paradigm in Ancient Chris

tianity. By Roger Steven Evans. Lanham, Md.: University Press of Amer
ica, 2003. xvii + 188 pp. $30.00 paper.
This book tackles a rich and complex question in early Christian studies:
the role of virginity in the teachings and practice of the Church as it emerged
in its Judao- and Greco-Roman matrix. The book's intended focus is upon
early Christian belief in the potential of the virginal/chaste body to offer
salvation, on the one hand to the person practicing sexual renunciation, on
the other to the family/community in which this individual lived. To this end

This content downloaded from 154.59.124.141 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 21:50:23 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
BOOK REVIEWS AND NOTES 167

the author collects evidence to uncover Greco-Roman and Jewish attitudes

towards sex and marriage in the early centuries of our era and examines
documents of the early church fathers pertaining to virginity, marriage, and
sexual activity.
The book is arranged in two parts, the first purporting to cover general
attitudes towards virginity in this time period and the second a study of
virginity in the writings of the church fathers. This would be an admirable
division of the subject, but for the fact that a considerable number of passages
written by the Fathers of the Church, together with a discussion of their
views, occur proleptically in the first part, in the analysis of their interpreta
tions of 1 Corinthians 7.
Part 1 is seriously marred by errors in comprehending the practice and
understanding of virginity in Greece and Rome. Examples include the as
sumption that the mythical athlete Atalanta is a goddess (3), and Mary
Beard's comments on the Vestal Virgins of Rome together with (Roman) Stoic
views appear in the Greek section; conversely, the Greek tragic heroine
Antigone appears in the Roman section, in the discussion of the sorry fate of
Vestals who lost their virginity. In Evans's discussions of "virgin priestesses"
there is no attempt to separate sexual purity (during priestly service) from
lifelong virginity, a practice reserved for very few. The general thrust of
Evans's argument that marriage was encouraged and virginity discouraged
for young women in the Greco-Roman world is sound, but misses an impor
tant point. The Greek parthenos was a social, not a physiological, term and
denoted a girl not yet bound to a man. This explains literary signs of distress
in young brides and the determination of certain Olympian goddesses to
retain their virginity and, hence, enjoy a measurable degree of autonomy.
This insight could have been linked to Evans's exploration of the tensions
produced by communities of female Christian virgins of the first four centu
ries ce. who benefited from independence from the patriarchal family struc
ture. Also helpful for the later discussion would have been a look at the ways
in which Greek virgin priestesses or virgin choruses in religious festivals
were looked upon as mediators of divine will. The chapter studying the
views of virgins and virginity in ancient Jewish writings would have bene
fited from a study of the Hebrew word almah, routinely translated in Greek
by parthenos or in English by "virgin," but which could refer not only to
virgins but to young widows, concubines, or prostitutes. This chapter closes
by referring to "immaculate conception" in the story of Joseph and Aseneth
(22). It is distressing to find that a historical theologian would confuse this
with virgin birth.
In part 2 the reader is treated to an array of fascinating topics that emerge
from documents belonging to the early church. That virginity emerged as one
of several competing paradigms being offered for salvation?the subject of
the book?is striking. To understand the potential here, and the impulses that
led to this, one would find it helpful to have had a capsule presentation and
assessment of the other paradigms, such as those offered by Arianism,
Donatism, or the Marcionites. This second part raises other intriguing and
important issues. Among these is the palpable tension in the writings of the
Fathers as they attempt to reconcile the community's need for marriage with
their own disdain for sex and the difficulties they had coming to terms with
their own sexuality that led to this disdain. The misogyny arising from their
writings emerges on almost every page and would have been worth an

This content downloaded from 154.59.124.141 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 21:50:23 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 168 CHURCH HISTORY

examination in itself. The independent lives lived by substantial communities

of celibate women by the third century ce. created new tensions with the
patriarchal tendencies that were now fixing the form of the early church. This
has been well studied, but Evans's reminder that the various treatises pre
senting stern advice to these celibate communities arose from a fear of loss of
control (145) is salutary. That there were tensions created between celibate
women and married women (80) is a natural assumption, and the reader is
left wondering if any written evidence survives for this assumption. The
paradox of a virgin mother (Mary Qeovtoko, 154) is raised in a discussion of
the intercessory chain of virgins-Mary-Christ-God. A fuller treatment of this
apparent paradox is warranted, one that could have included virgin mothers
in the Greek tradition and elsewhere (for parthenoi as mothers, see Giulia
Sissa, Greek Virginity [Cambride, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990]).
Another Greek precedent that could have increased the study of the soterio
logical force of virginity was the notion of the first-fruit sacrifice of young
nubile women, found in many mythical narratives. (That of Iphigeneia is
perhaps the best known.) This could have been connected to the "spotless"
sacrificial offering reported in the Hebrew Scriptures as offering the hope of
salvation (126).
That the church fathers saw themselves as dependent upon virgins is one of
the most important contributions made by this study. It is reasonable to
conclude that this lay behind the vitriol leveled at fallen virgins in their
writings (163-69), and it underscores the importance of a study of this sort.
It is unfortunate that this book is so seriously compromised by lack of the
development of arguments along clear lines, either chronological or thematic.
Repetition of texts does not serve to develop the arguments. Errors of syntax
and spelling abound, and these compound the other difficulties standing in
the way of honoring this extremely important subject.
Bonnie MacLachlan
University of Western Ontario

The Making of a Christian Aristocracy: Social and Religious Change in the

Western Roman Empire. By Mich?le Ren?e Salzman. Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 2002. xiv + 364 pp. $55.00 cloth; $19.95 paper.
The Christianization of the Roman Empire is often approached as a
bottom-up issue, that is, the poor converted first and the aristocracy held out
the longest; or as top-down issue, that is, Constantine's conversion precipi
tated a trickle-down effect as civil servants and minor aristocrats saw the
imperial handwriting on the wall and converted to save or better their
positions. Scholars following Arthur Darby Nock saw Christianization as the
result of a turn to individual piety in the face of the sterility of the state cult.
Yet little concrete demographic or solid sociological evidence has been ad
duced to buttress these opinions or to offer a well-documented alternative.
Until now. Mich?le Ren?e Salzman focuses specifically on members of the
Roman senatorial, imperial, bureaucratic, and ecclesiastical aristocracies in
the West from 284 to 423 from an empire that practiced traditional Roman
religions to one that outlawed them. Using data on aristocrats found in the
major Roman prosopographies and supplemented by epigraphical and liter
ary sources, Salzman assembled a database of persons about whom prove
nance, rank, offices held, personal and spousal religious affiliation, and date

This content downloaded from 154.59.124.141 on Fri, 11 Aug 2023 21:50:23 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms