This book provides an original and rewarding context for understanding the prolific fourth-century Christian theologian John Chrysostom and the religious and social world in which he lived. Blake Leyerle analyzes two highly rhetorical treatises by this early church father attacking the phenomenon of "spiritual marriage." Spiritual marriage was an ascetic practice with a long history in which a man and a woman lived together in an intimate relationship without sex. What begins as an analysis of Chrysostom's attack on spiritual marriage becomes a broad investigation into Chrysostom's life and work, the practice of spiritual marriage itself, the role of the theater in late antique city life, and the early history of Christianity. Though thoroughly grounded in the texts themselves and in the cultural history of late antiquity, this study breaks new ground with its focus on issues of rhetoric, sexuality, and power. Leyerle argues that Chrysostom used images and tropes drawn from the theater to persuade religious men and women that spiritual marriage was wrong. In addition to her analysis of the significance of the rhetorical strategies used by Chrysostom, Leyerle gives a thorough discussion of the role of the theater in late antiquity, particularly in Antioch, one of the gems among late antique cities. She also discusses gender in the context of late antique religion, shedding new light on early Christian attitudes toward sexuality. Throughout Leyerle weaves an ongoing conversation with contemporary theory in film and gender studies that gives her study an important analytic dimension.

In the world of early Byzantine Christianity, monastic rules acknowledged but discouraged the homosexual impulses of adult males. What most disturbed monastic leaders was adolescent males being accepted as novices; adult men were considered unable to control their sexual desires for these "beautiful boys." John Chrysostom, the Archbishop of Constantinople (397-407), virulently denounced homosexuality, but was virtually the only Byzantine cleric to do so. Penances traditionally attached to heterosexual sins--including remarriage after divorce or widowhood--have always been much more severe than those for a variety of homosexual acts or relationships. Just as Byzantine churches have found ways to accommodate sequential marriages and other behavior once stridently condemned, this book argues, it is possible for Byzantine Christianity to make pastoral accommodations for gay relationships and same-sex marriage.

Actors and Icons of the Ancient Theater examines actors andtheir popular reception from the origins of theater in ClassicalGreece to the Roman Empire Presents a highly original viewpoint into several new andcontested fields of study Offers the first systematic survey of evidence for the spreadof theater outside Athens and the impact of the expansion oftheater upon actors and dramatic literature Addresses a study of the privatization of theater and revealshow it was driven by political interests Challenges preconceived notions about theater history

A collection of essays, by leading international scholars, on the history of the Greek theatre, and on the wider context of festival culture in which theatrical activity took place in the Greek world. The emphasis is on the documentary material - inscriptions, archaeological remains and monuments - which provides so much of our 'hard' evidence for the activities of the theatre. Much of the important material discussed here is unknown except to specialists, and these studies offeraccess to its interpretation to a wider audience. They cover a wide range of time and place, from the earliest days of the Greek theatre to the Roman period, with special emphasis on the neglected Hellenistic period, which is especially rich in documentary evidence.

Ideal for high school and college students studying history through the everyday lives of men and women, this book offers intriguing information about the jobs that people have held, from ancient times to the 21st century. This unique book provides detailed studies of more than 300 occupations as they were practiced in 21 historical time periods, ranging from prehistory to the present day. Each profession is examined in a compelling essay that is specifically written to inform readers about career choices in different times and cultures, and is accompanied by a bibliography of additional sources of information, sidebars that relate historical issues to present-day concerns, as well as related historical documents. Readers of this work will learn what each profession entailed or entails on a daily basis, how one gained entry to the vocation, training methods, and typical compensation levels for the job. The book provides sufficient specific detail to convey a comprehensive understanding of the experiences, benefits, and downsides of a given profession. Selected accompanying documents further bring history to life by offering honest testimonies from people who actually worked in these occupations or interacted with those in that field.

This collection of essays is taken from the pages of The Catholic Historical Review, the official organ of the American Catholic Historical Association and the only scholarly journal under Catholic auspices in the English-speaking world devoted to the history of the Universal Church. Journeys in Church History offers reflections from six leading contemporary church historians, who describe in their own words how they have come to practice their craft. They trace their family and educational backgrounds, the themes that attracted their attention, the challenges they encountered in researching them, the new methodologies they adopted to answer questions, and the reception given to their findings. They also tell of their experiences in the classroom, both as students and teachers, the difficulties they encountered in their careers due to prejudices based on gender or religion, and how the discipline of church history has changed over their lifetimes. Their often entertaining accounts will serve to inform and inspire fellow historians, both young and old. The contributors to this volume are: Elizabeth Clark, who pioneered studies of the role of women in the early Church. Caroline Bynum showed how Christians viewed gender and the human body. Jean Delumeau studies the religious attitudes (mentalit�) of the ordinaryfaithful and how these were shaped during the medieval and early modern periods. John W. O'Mally documents that Renaissance humanism was not pagan but profoundly Christian. The promotion of institutions of higher education under the auspices of the Catholic Church in America has been studied by J. Philip Gleason. Margaret Lavinia Anderson was among the first to use computers to analyze voting patterns in modern Germany and thus determine the influence of the Center Party.

In Revisioning John Chrysostom, Chris de Wet and Wendy Mayer harness a new wave of scholarship on the life and works of John Chrysostom (c. 350-407 CE), which applies new theoretical lenses and reconsiders his debt to classical paideia.