Visual Rhetoric of the Married Laity in Late Antiquity - Iconography, Christianization of Marriage, Alternatives to Ascetic

This study examines third- and fourth-century portraits of married Christians and associated images, reading them as visual rhetoric in early Christian conversations about marriage and celibacy, and recovering lay perspectives underrepresented in literary sources.

List of contents

Prologue: The Monk and the Matrona; 1. Introduction: Recovering the Voices of "the Silent Majority"; 2. Competing Visions: Early Christian Thought on Marriage and Celibacy; 3. Centering Christ: Adaptations of dextrarum iunctio, Concordia pronuba, and coronae impositio in Spousal Portraits; 4. Learned, Encircled, Worshipping: Other Forms of Double-Portraits and Self-Representation; 5. In the Beginning: Married Christians Putting Adam and Eve to Work; 6. After the End: Marriage, Death, and the Afterlife; 7. Conclusion: Image and Word in the Conversations of the Christian Past; Appendix: Adam and Eve Images and Marital Contexts on Christian Sarcophagi.

About the author

Mark D. Ellison is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT, USA. He co-edited The Routledge Handbook of Early Christian Art (with Robin M. Jensen) and Material Culture and Women's Religious Experience in Antiquity (with Catherine Gines Taylor and Carolyn Osiek).

Summary

This study examines third- and fourth-century portraits of married Christians and associated images, reading them as visual rhetoric in early Christian conversations about marriage and celibacy, and recovering lay perspectives underrepresented in literary sources.

Product details

• Authors: Mark D. Ellison
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 11.12.2023
• EAN: 9781032546483
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3254648-3
• No. of pages: 400
• Series: Routledge Studies in the Early Christian World
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Art history; HISTORY / Ancient / General, RELIGION / Christianity / History, LITERARY CRITICISM / Medieval, ART / History / Ancient & Classical, RELIGION / Christian Rituals & Practice / Sacraments, History of art / art & design styles, History of Religion, History of Art, Literary studies: classical, early & medieval, Painting & paintings, Ancient History, Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500, Ancient history: to c 500 CE, Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval, BCE to c 500 CE, C 500 CE To C 1000 CE, Paintings and painting, 5th century, c 400 to c 499, 3rd century, c 200 to c 299, 6th century, c 500 to c 599, Christian sacraments, 4th century, c 300 to c 399