Women in the Early Church

Elizabeth A. Clark (1938-2021) received her doctorate in patristic studies from Columbia University. The recipient of many scholarship awards, she was the founder of the department of religion at Mary Washington College. Internationally know as a patristic scholar, she is highly respected for her published works, among which is Clement's Use of Aristotle: The Aristotelian Contribution to Clement of Alexandria's Refutation of Gnosticism.

• CONTENTSABBREVIATIONS   10EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION   11ACKNOWLEDGMENTS   13INTRODUCTION   15CHAPTER ONE: PARADISE LOST: CREATION, FALL, AND MARRIAGE   27Augustine, On the Good of Marriage   27Augustine, Literal Commentary on Genesis   28Am brose, On Paradise   29John Chrysostom, Discourse 4 on Genesis   33John Chrysostom, Discourse 2 on Genesis   34John Chrysostom, The Kind of Women Who Ought To Be Taken As Wives   36Irenaeus, Against Heresies   38Tertullian, On the Dress of Women   38Augustine, Literal Commentary on Genesis   39Ambrose, On Paradise   41John Chrysostom, Homily 26 on I Corinthians   42John Chrysostom, Discourse 4 on Genesis   42Augustine, The City of God   44Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies   47Augustine, On Marriage and Concupiscence   55Augustine, On the Good of Marriage   61Augustine, On the Sermon on the Mount   64Augustine, Epistle 262   65Tertullian, Exhortation to His Wife   69John Chrysostom, Homily 12 on I Corinthians   71John Chrysostom, Homily 5 on I Thessalonians   73John Chrysostom, Homily 19 on I Corinthians   75 CHAPTER TWO: WOMEN ENDANGERED: THE APOCRYPHAL ACTS AND MARTYRDOM   77Acts of Paul and Thecla   78Acts of John   88The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas   97Ambrose, On Virgins   106Prudentius, Crowns of Martyrdom   109CHAPTER THREE: PARADISE REGAINED: ASCETICISM IN THEORY AND PRACTICE   115Methodius, The Banquet   116Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity   118John Chrysostom, On Virginity   122Jerome, Against Jovinian   126Jerome, Epistle 22   131Palladius, Lausiac History   133Jerome, Epistle 108   134Augustine, Epistle 211   137Caesarius of ArIes, Rules for the Holy Virgins   141John Chrysostom, On the Necessity of Guarding Virginity   144Tertullian, Exhortation to Chastity   147Tertullian, On Monogamy   151John Chrysostom, On Not Marrying Again   153CHAPTER FOUR: WOMEN IN THE WIDER WORLD   156John Chrysostom, Homily 9 on I Timothy   156John Chrysostom, Greet Priscilla and Aquila   158John Chrysostom, Homily 7 on Matthew   160Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies   160Jerome, Epistle 133   161Jerome, Epistle 127   163Jerome, Epistle 108   163Palladius, Lausiac History   164Faltonia Betitia Proba, Cento   165Jerome, Epistle 128   168Jerome, Epistle 107   169Tertullian, On Baptism   173 John Chrysostom, On the Priesthood   173John Chrysostom, Saints Bernice and Prosdoce   174Canons of Nicaea and Chalcedon   175Apostolic Constitutions   176Jerome, Epistle 77   181Socrates Scholasticus, Church History   185Egeria, The Pilgrimage of Egeria   186Jerome, Epistle 108   197CHAPTER FIVE: WOMEN AS MODELS AND MENTORS   204Jerome, Epistle 127   205Jerome, Epistle 108   209Palladius, Lausiac History   213Paulinus of Nola, Epistle 29   216Jerome, Epistle 45   220Palladius, Lausiac History   221Palladius, Lausiac History   223Life of Olympias   224Jerome, Epistle 130   231Gregory of Nyssa, Life of St. Macrina   235John Chrysostom, On the Priesthood   244Augustine, Confessions   245Suggestions for Further Reading   259