Date of Award
Fall 2011
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Theology
Program
Religious Studies
First Advisor
Golitzin, Alexander G.
Second Advisor
Barnes, Michel R.
Third Advisor
Dempsey, Deirdre A.
Abstract
This dissertation shows that in the second and third century Christian stories containing transformational imagery of being made male, the vision of the eschaton motivates individuals to lives of enkrateia and martyrdom. Individuals who choose encratic lives or the life of martyrdom become holy and are described in imagery reflective of the eschaton. The eschatological vision in these texts is the product of Biblical tradition and Second Temple Judaism; visions of the eschaton explain the future state as a return to prelapsarian Eden, as participation in the heavenly temple, and as victory in the eschatological battle. This vision is the context in which transformational imagery should be read. Its content gives meaning to the transformational imagery of being made male.