'The most fitting word with which to describe the Church Fathers' attitude toward women is ambivalence. Women were God's creation, his good gift to men---and the curse of the world. They were weak in both mind and character---and displayed dauntless courage, undertook prodigious feats of scholarship. Vain, deceitful, brimming with lust---they led men to Christ, fled sexual encounter, wavered not at the executioner's threats, adorned themselves with sackcloth and ashes. Leaving the examination of the Fathers' psyches to other specialists, this volume documents from an historical perspective the ways in which the Fathers praised and blamed, honored and disparaged the female sex.' -from the Introduction 'Elizabeth Clark, a patristic scholar and founder of the Department of Religion at Mary Washington College, has drawn upon her depth of scholarship and linguistic ability to make available to an educated but non-specialized readership an intriguing mosaic of opinions.'-America Women in the Early Church is the thirteenth volume in the Message of the Fathers of the Church series. Elizabeth A. Clark received her M.A. and Ph.D. (1965) from Columbia University. She has authored or co-authored eleven books, many of which have received the highest academic recognition. Ascetic Piety and Women's Faith: Essays on Late Ancient Christianity won the 1986 Adele Mellen prize for distinguished contributions to scholarship. Internationally known as a patristic scholar, Dr. Clark has been President of the American Academy of Religion, the American Society of Church History, and the North American Patristic Society. She is the John Carlisle Kilgo Professor of Religion and Director of the Graduate Program in Religion at Duke University. |
