TY - BOOK ID - 68487285 TI - Dying to Be Men PY - 2008 SN - 0231144989 9780231144988 023151820X 9780231518208 PB - New York, NY DB - UniCat KW - Martyrologies KW - Martyrdom KW - Sex role KW - Church history KW - History and criticism. KW - Christianity KW - Religious aspects KW - History of doctrines KW - 235.3*14 KW - 272 <37> KW - Gender role KW - Sex (Psychology) KW - Sex differences (Psychology) KW - Social role KW - Gender expression KW - Sexism KW - Necrologies KW - Death KW - Suffering KW - Martyrs 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 - 235.3*14 Hagiografie: martyrium KW - Hagiografie: martyrium KW - History and criticism KW - Kerkvervolging--Rome. Oud-Italiƫ KW - Gender roles KW - Gendered role KW - Gendered roles KW - Role, Gender KW - Role, Gendered KW - Role, Sex KW - Roles, Gender KW - Roles, Gendered KW - Roles, Sex KW - Sex roles UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:68487285 AB - At once brave and athletic, virtuous and modest, female martyrs in the second and third centuries were depicted as self-possessed gladiators who at the same time exhibited the quintessentially "womanly" qualities of modesty, fertility, and beauty. L. Stephanie Cobb explores the double embodiment of "male" and "female" gender ideals in these figures, connecting them to Greco-Roman virtues and the construction of Christian group identities. Both male and female martyrs conducted their battles in the amphitheater, a masculine environment that enabled the divine combatants to showcase their strength, virility, and volition. These Christian martyr accounts also illustrated masculinity through the language of justice, resistance to persuasion, and-more subtly but most effectively-the juxtaposition of "unmanly" individuals (usually slaves, the old, or the young) with those at the height of male maturity and accomplishment (such as the governor or the proconsul). Imbuing female martyrs with the same strengths as their male counterparts served a vital function in Christian communities. Faced with the possibility of persecution, Christians sought to inspire both men and women to be braver than pagan and Jewish men. Yet within the community itself, traditional gender roles had to be maintained, and despite the call to be manly, Christian women were expected to remain womanly in relation to the men of their faith. Complicating our understanding of the social freedoms enjoyed by early Christian women, Cobb's investigation reveals the dual function of gendered language in martyr texts and its importance in laying claim to social power. ER -