Masculinities in the New Testament and Beyond
9789463727433
532 pages
Amsterdam University Press
Overview
The study of gender in early Christianity has been one of the catalysts for new historical insight into the early Jesus movement and beyond. By focusing on the construction of various kinds of masculinities in early Christian texts, both biblical and extra-biblical, and by showcasing a number of examples of the reception of such texts in the construction and discussion of masculinities, the essays collected in this volume draw attention to a kind of gender that is often in equal measure overlooked as it is influential in the shaping of communities and societies, i.e., masculinities in all their diversity and with their different effects on those embodying them and those encountering them. The volume seeks to contribute to the study of early Christian literature and its reception, to the study of gender in the (Christian) theological tradition, and to gender studies in general.
Author Bio
Peter-Ben Smit is professor of Contextual Biblical Interpretation at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and professor of Ancient Catholic Church Structures and the History and Doctrine of the Old Catholic Churches at Utrecht University. His research centers on community, with particular attention to gender and masculinities. His works include Felix Culpa: Ritual Failure and Theological Innovation in Early Christianity (2022).
Laura Pasterkamp is working on a PhD-project, funded by an NWO grant, called: “Hidden from the Wise and Understanding – Revealed to Little Children: Childist Perspectives on the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles.” The project analyses the presence and role of children in Luke and Acts with an intersectionally oriented childist approach. She completed the Master Theology and Religious Studies at the VU and the Master Children’s and Youth Literature at Tilburg University. She published: ‘Een jong meisje het zwijgen opgelegd?,’ Kerk en Theologie 74 (2023), 380-396.
