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Zusatztext "Doerfler’s outstanding merit is the use of a large and well-mastered corpus of sources. . . . This very well-written volume on the reception of selected biblical figures concerning the death of children will be worthwhile to students and experts in the fields of theology, religious sciences, classical literature, ancient history, Near Eastern studies, psychology, and social studies." Informationen zum Autor Maria E. Doerfler is Assistant Professor of Late Antiquity in Yale University’s Department of Religious Studies. Klappentext “Doerfler paints vibrant portraits of how late antique Christian communities responded to children’s deaths and parental grief, reading their lives and experiences through the accounts of biblical heroes and heroines faced with tragedy. Both vivid and clear, this book will appeal to many readers.” —Caroline T. Schroeder, author of Monastic Bodies: Discipline and Salvation in Shenoute of Atripe "Children’s death is a timeless grief, crossing history and cultures. In this beautifully written and sensitive book, Doerfler explores biblical stories in conversation with modern perspectives on children and violence. An important addition to patristic research, her study will also speak to readers in theology, human rights, and social justice." —Susan R. Holman, John R. Eckrich Chair and Professor of Religion and the Healing Arts, Valparaiso University Zusammenfassung Late antiquity was a perilous time for children! who were often the first victims of economic crisis! war! and disease. They had a one in three chance of dying before their first birthday! with as many as half dying before age ten. Christian writers accordingly sought to speak to the experience of bereavement and to provide cultural scripts for parents who had lost a child. These late ancient writers turned to characters like Eve and Sarah! Job and Jephthah as models for grieving and for confronting or submitting to the divine. Jephthah's Daughter! Sarah’s Son traces the stories these writers crafted and the ways in which they shaped the lived experience of familial bereavement in ancient Christianity. A compelling social history that conveys the emotional lives of people in the late ancient world! Jephthah's Daughter! Sarah's Son is a powerful portrait of mourning that extends beyond antiquity to the present day. Inhaltsverzeichnis Acknowledgments (Premature) Death as a Good: An Introduction 1. Children’s Deaths in Late Antiquity in Ritual and Historical Perspective 2. East of Eden: The First Bereaved Parents 3. Mourning Sarah’s Son: Genesis 22 and the Death of Children 4. Echoes of the Akedah: Jephthah’s Daughter and the Maccabeans’ Mother 5. Death! Demons! and Disaster: Job’s Children 6. Children and the Sword: The Holy Innocents and the Death of Children Conclusion: Children in the Quicksand Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Index ...
