A Garden Locked, A Fountain Sealed: Female Virginity as a Model for Holiness in the Fourth Century

<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>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Year dc:date.available

2015

Author dc:creator

• Williams, Lindsay Anne

Contributors dc:contributor

• Courtney Luckhardt
• Westley Follett
• Kenneth Swope

• Augustine
• Jerome
• Ambrose
• Religious History
• Women's History
• Monica
• Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity
• Catholic Studies
• History of Christianity

Repository record dc:identifier

https://aquila.usm.edu/masters_theses/133

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:aquila.usm.edu:masters_theses-1146