TY - BOOK ID - 3464728 TI - Slandering the Jew : sexuality and difference in early Christian texts AU - Drake, Susanna AU - University of Pennsylvania Press PY - 2013 VL - *8 SN - 9780812245202 0812245202 1322513740 0812208242 PB - Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Press DB - UniCat KW - Sex KW - Christianity and other religions KW - Judaism KW - Church history KW - Sexualité KW - Christianisme KW - Judaïsme KW - Eglise KW - Religious aspects KW - Christianity KW - History of doctrines KW - History KW - Relations KW - Aspect religieux KW - Histoire des doctrines KW - Histoire KW - Frühchristentum. KW - Leiblichkeit. KW - Verunglimpfung. KW - Antijudaismus. KW - Sexualverhalten. KW - Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600. KW - Sexualité KW - Judaïsme KW - Gender (Sex) KW - Human beings KW - Human sexuality KW - Sex (Gender) KW - Sexual behavior KW - Sexual practices KW - Sexuality KW - Sexology KW - Apostolic Church KW - Church, Apostolic KW - Early Christianity KW - Early church KW - Primitive and early church KW - Primitive Christianity KW - Fathers of the church KW - Great Apostasy (Mormon doctrine) KW - History. KW - Jews KW - Religions KW - Semites KW - Religion KW - Ancient Studies. KW - Jewish Studies. KW - Religion. KW - Religious Studies. UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:3464728 AB - As Christian leaders in the first through fifth centuries embraced ascetic interpretations of the Bible and practices of sexual renunciation, sexual slander-such as the accusations Paul leveled against wayward Gentiles in the New Testament-played a pivotal role in the formation of early Christian identity. In particular, the imagined construct of the lascivious, literal-minded Jew served as a convenient foil to the chaste Christian ideal. Susanna Drake examines representations of Jewish sexuality in early Christian writings that use accusations of carnality, fleshliness, bestiality, and licentiousness as strategies to differentiate the "spiritual" Christian from the "carnal" Jew. Church fathers such as Justin Martyr, Hippolytus of Rome, Origen of Alexandria, and John Chrysostom portrayed Jewish men variously as dangerously hypersexual, at times literally seducing virtuous Christians into heresy, or as weak and effeminate, unable to control bodily impulses or govern their wives. As Drake shows, these carnal caricatures served not only to emphasize religious difference between Christians and Jews but also to justify increased legal constraints and violent acts against Jews as the interests of Christian leaders began to dovetail with the interests of the empire. Placing Christian representations of Jews at the root of the destruction of synagogues and mobbing of Jewish communities in the late fourth and early fifth centuries, Slandering the Jew casts new light on the intersections of sexuality, violence, representation, and religious identity. ER -