Review: [untitled]

Author(s): Elizabeth A. Clark

Reviewed work(s):
"Virgins of God": The Making of Asceticism in Late Antiquity by Susanna Elm
Source: The Journal of Religion, Vol. 76, No. 3 (Jul., 1996), pp. 466-468
Published by: The University of Chicago Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1205611
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The Journal of Religion
that fierce polemic might sometimes result in one side positively urging an action
which they logically only wished to insist was permitted" (p. 171). So he suggests
that the enthusiasm of some Christians for mission to the gentiles arose "because
internal strife within their own ranks made the inclusion of gentiles the main
issue of debate" (p. 173). We are left with the notion of Paul racing to spread the
Gospel westward to prove a point. Whatever one makes of this bit of psychologiz-
ing, it sheds no light on the more fundamental question why Paul thought that
"it really did not matter whether a follower of Jesus was Jew or gentile" (p. 169).
Goodman's attempt to explain the origin of the Christian mission has the char-
acter of an epilogue and is too brief to be persuasive. The main contribution of
his book concerns the ongoing debate about Jewish mission and proselytizing.
While his hypothesis of a watershed in the time of Nerva is less than convincing,
he makes a strong case that there was no organized or widespread Jewish mission
to the gentiles before the rise of Christianity. It is primarily for this contribution
that this is an important book.
JOHN J. COLLINS, University of Chicago.

ELM, SUSANNA.
"Virginsof God":The Making of Asceticismin Late Antiquity.Oxford
Classical Monographs. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994. xvii+443 pp. $70.00
(cloth).

"Asceticism began as a method for men and women to transcend, as virgins of

God, the limitations of humanity in relation to the divine. It slowly changed into
a way for men as men and women as women to symbolize the power of the
Church" (p. 384). Such is the conclusion of Susanna Elm's learned study of the
changes within ascetic theory and practice that transpired in late ancient Asia
Minor and Egypt. Far from taking Benedictine monasticism as a starting point for
discussion, Elm argues that not even Basil of Caesarea, Pachomius, and Shenoute
should be understood as founders of ascetic movements, but as reformers and
"domesticators" of a previous ascetic practice that frequently was more radical
than their own. Elm's exhaustive footnotes and bibliography show the depth of
scholarship that undergirds her provocative and original book.
Early asceticism in Asia Minor and in Egypt, Elm argues, existed primarily as
an urban phenomenon modeled on the household; hence, men and women are
often depicted as living together or in familylike situations. According to Elm, the
single most important change that occurred in fourth-century asceticism was the
segregation of the sexes and their placement in separate monasteries. Although
women in this arrangement were in theory equal to male ascetics, in practice the
organization of monastic life and the rules placed on women, including a limita-
tion on public functions, militated against "equality." Here Elm borrows a We-
berian theme: when female asceticism became too powerful and widespread (but
was still loosely defined), steps were taken by male religious leaders to regulate
the phenomenon-a delicate task, since female devotees must not be alienated
from ecclesiastical structures.
Elm convincingly shows how the household model dominated early ascetic or-
ganization in the areas she studies. For Egypt, early church canons reveal the
prevalence of familial types of asceticism; for Asia Minor, Basil of Caesarea's as-
cetic family provides a detailed case study. Even ascetics' self-construction was
described in familial language: men could style themselves "spiritual fathers," and
women ascetics called themselves virgin fiancees or virgin widows. ("Virgin," Elm

466
 Book Reviews
makes clear, is not so much a physical as a social description.) Elm's depiction of
the gradual transformation of households into ascetic retreats for women accords
well with Caroline Walker Bynum's thesis, based on medieval evidence, that
women religious tended to see their vocations as entailing progressive develop-
ment rather than a radical break with the past. Basil of Caesarea's ascetic pro-
gram, Elm shows, was based on earlier models that had been "tried out" by his
brother Naucratius and his sister Macrina. One of Basil's innovations, however,
was to segregate the women from the men.
The urban location of much early asceticism is a point that may surprise read-
ers who associate the ascetic phenomenon with the desert. In the city, male and
female ascetics often lived together and took part in the political and doctrinal
disputes of the day; placing monasteries in rural settings (such as Basil accom-
plished) removed a vocal element from city life. In Asia Minor, women were disso-
ciated from earlier roles in which they taught and even baptized; although from
the fourth century on they served as deaconesses and as heads of monasteries,
their actual power was reduced, Elm argues. In Egypt, consecrated virgins in
Alexandria became an occasion for contest between Athanasians and Arians, each
of whom had their following. Elm shows how Athanasius and others appealed to
"the desert," with its supposed tranquility and separation from urban turmoil, as
a means to control their urban clientele: he exploited a "rhetorical enhancement
of rural models over urban ones" (p. 375). Papyrological evidence also supports
literary texts suggesting that ascetics lived mostly in towns and villages, not in
total isolation.
Elm relates these changes in ascetic practice to struggles over "heresy" and
"orthodoxy." For Asia Minor, she highlights the role of Eustathius of Sebaste (and
traces a network of his associates) who promoted "homoiousian asceticism" in
which men and women often lived together in rigorous renunciation; "enthusias-
tic" ascetic groups such as Messalians still existed in the late fourth century who
resisted the Basilian model. In Egypt, Athanasius's brand of asceticism faced stiff
competition from the radically ascetic Hieracites and from Melitians, who had
monastic communities prior to 334 C.E. The alignment of Melitians with Arians
in Egypt posed a formidable threat to Athanasius's power base; here, Elm argues,
disputes over "orthodoxy" and disputes over asceticism ran together.
In her conclusion, and borrowing themes from Rebecca Lyman's Christology
and Cosmology(Oxford, 1993), Elm suggests that the Arian model of asceticism was
linked to an Origenist vision that gender would be overcome in the restoration of
all things to the primordial unity. But by Athanasius's time, the created order was
viewed as weak, unstable, and incapable of being transcended: grace and faith,
not free will, was the message preached by the Church as it expanded its power
from the Constantinian era onward. If, as this theology taught, gender is not a
"passing stage" (p. 381), even those committed to ascetic renunciation must be
protected against their fallibility by sexual segregation and control by male eccle-
siastical and monastic authorities.
So wide-ranging is the material that Elm has marshaled in her study that ex-
perts in various subspecialties will no doubt find points with which to take issue
(e.g., that the phenomenon of the subintroductaewas strongly spurred by women's
economic need; or that the Macarian tradition is thoroughly Messalian). One
larger theme perhaps needs elaboration: Elm claims that shifts in society at large
stimulate changes in the conceptualization of the cosmos and once the latter are
in place, they in turn help reshape social praxis (p. 382). Elm speaks eloquently
about changes in cosmic conceptualization and ascetic praxis, but these are only

467
The Journal of Religion
loosely linked to "shifts in society at large" (p. 382). Presumably, the Christianiza-
tion of the empire in the fourth century is one such shift that influenced the
change from an Origenist to an Athanasian conceptualization of the cosmos
(among other things), but readers would like to see more development of these
notions. Perhaps that request requires another book.
Elm's is one of the most important studies of early Christian asceticism to be
produced in the twentieth century. Its influence on scholarship pertaining to late
antiquity should be enormous. "Virginsof God" is required reading for anyone
interested in early Christianity's development.
ELIZABETHA. CLARK, Duke University.

BINNS,JOHN.Asceticsand Ambassadorsof Christ:TheMonasteriesof Palestine,314-631.

Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994. 276 pp. $55.00 (cloth).

The monks of Palestine have long been overshadowed by the monastic communi-
ties of Egypt and Syria, but in recent years they have begun to receive their due.
In the mid-fourth century, influenced by Egyptian monasticism, men began to
practice the monastic life in the desert near Gaza. But it was only with the arrival
of Euthymius, an Armenian, early in the fifth century, and his disciple Sabas, that
a distinctly Palestinian form of monasticism took shape in the Judaean desert. In
the mid-fifth century these monks found their historian, Cyril of Scythopolis, a
Greek writer from a good-sized city south of the Sea of Galilee near present-
day Beth-Shean. Cyril was himself a monk who had lived among the monastic
communities of the Judaean desert, and his book, a collection of seven lives of
monks, is a history not only of the monastic communities but also of the church
in Jerusalem and environs during this period. John Binns's well-researched vol-
ume is a general introduction to the writings of Cyril of Scythopolis and the mo-
nastic culture that existed in the Judaean desert and the city of Jerusalem in the
fifth and sixth centuries, with passing reference to the earlier period (about which
much less is known).
The first part of the book concentrates on Cyril's literary and historical work,
how he went about the task, where he derived his information, his use of sources,
and so on. Binns draws on the work of Flussin, but he adds new details and
insights of his own. The second main part of the book is concerned with the
relation between the monastic communities in the desert and the city of Jerusa-
lem. The monasteries, though located in the desert, were never more than a few
hours' walk from Jerusalem, and the monks kept in close touch with ecclesiastical
affairs in the city. As has often been observed, the reason the monks came to
Palestine (most came from elsewhere in the empire) was to practice the ascetic
life close to Jerusalem. Binns also has a nice section on Scythopolis, the city's
history, its various communities (Jews, Samaritans, Christians, others), the history
of the Christianity in the city, and, where the sources allow, the makeup of the
Christian community. One of the limitations of Cyril's work is that he was chiefly
interested in the monks and clergy and in theological disputes; hence, he has
little to say about the life of the Christian communities in the towns and cities
of Palestine.
The final section of the book deals with religious themes that give shape to
Cyril's lives, in particular how the monks understood themselves. Binns analyses
the structure of the two main lives, those of Euthymius and Sabas, and draws

468