A new monograph in the “Christianity in Late Antiquity” series has been released.
Kelto Lillis, Julia. Virgin Territory: Configuring Female Virginity in Early Christianity. Christianity in Late Antiquity 13. Oakland: University of California Press, 2023.
Women’s virginity held tremendous significance in early Christianity and the Mediterranean world. Early Christian thinkers developed diverse definitions of virginity and understood its bodily aspects in surprising, often nonanatomical ways. Eventually Christians took part in a cross-cultural shift toward viewing virginity as something that could be perceived in women’s sex organs. Treating virginity as anatomical brought both benefits and costs. By charting this change and situating it in the larger landscape of ancient thought, Virgin Territory illuminates unrecognized differences among early Christian sources and historicizes problematic ideas about women’s bodies that still persist today.
Christianity in Late Antiquity (CLA), is the official monograph series of the North American Patristics Society, published in collaboration with the University of California Press. The series treats the many cultural, ecclesiastical, and linguistic contexts familiar to Christians living in the first through eighth centuries in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Books in the series advance challenging arguments through innovative engagement with theology, social history, material culture, liturgical studies, gender studies, art history, philosophy, linguistics, literature, and other disciplines.
Authors interested in publishing with the series are expected to complete a proposal per UCP specifications, and send it to the series editor, Joel Kalvesmaki: cla@patristics.org.