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"From the Womb of the Church": Monastic Families

2003; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 11; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/earl.2003.0050

1086-3184

Rebecca Krawiec,

Augustinian Studies and Theology

This article presents a scrutiny of four major monastic texts (Augustine's letters to Laetus and Ecdicia; Gregory of Nyssa's Life of Macrina; and the Egyptian monk Shenoute's sermon, "On Cleaving to Profitable Things") to argue that a "profamilial" attitude existed alongside the widely-recognized "antifamilial" one. Overall I wish to argue that even within an ascetic discourse, "family discourse" could be used to transform the notion of "family" into one cohesive Christian category. Together these texts show that in late antique Christianity the spiritual and fleshly families could be linked, rather than opposed, to attain salvation for all.