Despite centuries of Christian theologians and lay Christians alike assigning and/or accepting an entrenched misogyny in the writings of Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine, close examination of their work on its own terms and in its own time reveals that, in fact, they did not hold women in lesser esteem than men. Rather, time and again, in the writings of these Latin Doctors of the Church, women were promoted as exemplars of holiness and sanctity often in excess of their male counterparts and commonly as didactic tools used to lead their fellow Christians down a more righteous path. The following thesis serves as both examination and exculpation of these deeply influential figures in the history of Christianity, in an attempt to understand better the place of women in Christian society, teaching, and theology.
","abstract_html":"<p>Despite centuries of Christian theologians and lay Christians alike assigning and/or accepting an entrenched misogyny in the writings of Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine, close examination of their work on its own terms and in its own time reveals that, in fact, they did not hold women in lesser esteem than men. Rather, time and again, in the writings of these Latin Doctors of the Church, women were promoted as exemplars of holiness and sanctity often in excess of their male counterparts and commonly as didactic tools used to lead their fellow Christians down a more righteous path. The following thesis serves as both examination and exculpation of these deeply influential figures in the history of Christianity, in an attempt to understand better the place of women in Christian society, teaching, and theology.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Williams, Lindsay Anne"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":"History","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Courtney Luckhardt","Westley Follett","Kenneth Swope"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2015-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:44:34Z","subjects":["Augustine","Jerome","Ambrose","Religious History","Women's History","Monica","Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity","Catholic Studies","History of Christianity"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/133","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Courtney Luckhardt","Westley Follett","Kenneth Swope"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Williams, Lindsay Anne"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2015-06-29T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["History"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Masters Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Augustine","Jerome","Ambrose","Religious History","Women's History","Monica","Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity","Catholic Studies","History of Christianity"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/133"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Despite centuries of Christian theologians and lay Christians alike assigning and/or accepting an entrenched misogyny in the writings of Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine, close examination of their work on its own terms and in its own time reveals that, in fact, they did not hold women in lesser esteem than men. Rather, time and again, in the writings of these Latin Doctors of the Church, women were promoted as exemplars of holiness and sanctity often in excess of their male counterparts and commonly as didactic tools used to lead their fellow Christians down a more righteous path. The following thesis serves as both examination and exculpation of these deeply influential figures in the history of Christianity, in an attempt to understand better the place of women in Christian society, teaching, and theology.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["A Garden Locked, A Fountain Sealed: Female Virginity as a Model for Holiness in the Fourth Century"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Courtney Luckhardt","Westley Follett","Kenneth Swope"],"dc:creator":["Williams, Lindsay Anne"],"dc:date.available":["2015-06-29T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Despite centuries of Christian theologians and lay Christians alike assigning and/or accepting an entrenched misogyny in the writings of Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine, close examination of their work on its own terms and in its own time reveals that, in fact, they did not hold women in lesser esteem than men. Rather, time and again, in the writings of these Latin Doctors of the Church, women were promoted as exemplars of holiness and sanctity often in excess of their male counterparts and commonly as didactic tools used to lead their fellow Christians down a more righteous path. The following thesis serves as both examination and exculpation of these deeply influential figures in the history of Christianity, in an attempt to understand better the place of women in Christian society, teaching, and theology.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/133"],"dc:subject":["Augustine","Jerome","Ambrose","Religious History","Women's History","Monica","Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity","Catholic Studies","History of Christianity"],"dc:title":["A Garden Locked, A Fountain Sealed: Female Virginity as a Model for Holiness in the Fourth Century"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["History"],"thesis:degree_level":["Masters Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:44:34Z"}