Hunt - Clothed in the Body: Asceticism, the Body and the Spiritual in the Late Antique Era

CLOTHED IN THE BODY

Hunt examines the apparent paradox that Jesus earthly existence and post resurrection appearances are experienced through consummately physical actions and attributes yet some ascetics within the Christian tradition appear to seek to deny the value of the human body, to find it deadening of spiritual life. Hunt considers why the Christian tradition as a whole has rarely managed more than an uneasy truce between the physical and the spiritual aspects of the human person. Why is it that the Church has energetically argued, through centuries of ecumenical councils, for the dual nature of Christ but seems still unwilling to accept the full integration of physical and spiritual within humanity, despite Gregory of Nazianzus comment that what has not been assumed has not been redeemed?

ASHGATE STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY IN LATE ANTIQUITY

Series Editors

Dr Mark Edwards, Oxford University, UK
Dr Lewis Ayers, Emory University, USA

The Ashgate Studies in Philosophy & Theology in Late Antiquity series focuses on major theologians, not as representatives of a tradition, whether Christian or classical, but as individuals immersed in the intellectual culture of their day. Each book concentrates on the arguments, not merely the opinions, of a single Christian writer or group of writers from the period AD 100600 and compares and contrasts these arguments with those of pagan contemporaries who addressed similar questions. By study of the political, cultural and social milieu, contributors to the series show what external factors led to the convergence or divergence of Christianity and pagan thought in particular localities or periods. Pagan and Christian teachings are set out in a clear and systematic form making it possible to bring to light the true originality of the authors thought and to estimate the value of his work for modern times. This high profile research series offers an important contribution to areas of contemporary research in the patristic period, as well as providing new links into later periods, particularly the medieval and reformation.

Other titles published in this series:

The Spirit of Augustines Early Theology
Contextualizing Augustines Pneumatology
Chad Tyler Gerber

Evagrius and Gregory
Mind, Soul and Body in the 4th Century
Kevin Corrigan

Dionysius the Areopagite and the Neoplatonist Tradition
Despoiling the Hellenes
Sarah Klitenic Wear and John Dillon

Origen Against Plato
Mark Julian Edwards

Asceticism, the Body and the Spiritual in the Late Antique Era

HANNAH HUNT
Leeds Trinity University College, UK

ASHGATE

Hannah Hunt 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

Hannah Hunt has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Hunt, Hannah.

Clothed in the body : asceticism, the body and the spiritual in the late antique era. (Ashgate studies in philosophy & theology in late antiquity)

1. Christian literature, EarlyHistory and criticism. 2. Christian literature, EarlySyriac
authors. 3. AsceticismHistoryEarly church, ca. 30600Sources. 4. Human body
Religious aspectsChristianityHistory of doctrinesEarly church, ca. 30600.
I. Title II. Series
233.5dc23

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Hunt, Hannah.
Clothed in the body : asceticism, the body, and the spiritual in the late antique era / Hannah Hunt.

p. cm. (Ashgate studies in philosophy & theology in late antiquity)

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 9781409409144 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 9781409409151 (ebook)
1. Human bodyReligious aspectsChristianityHistory of doctrinesEarly church, ca.
30600. 2. Theological anthropologyChristianityHistory of doctrinesEarly church,
ca. 30600. 3. AsceticismHistoryEarly church, ca. 30600. I. Title.
BT741.3.H86 2012
233.509dc23

2011050815

ISBN 9781409409144 (hbk)
ISBN 9781409409151 (ebk-PDF)
ISBN 9781409456384 (ebk-ePUB)

Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group, UK.

For Adam and Symeon

Grateful thanks are extended to all those who supported me in various ways during the two years I was working on this book. This project was conceived during a one-week Bishop Moorman Scholarship in St Deiniols Library (now Gladstones Library) in January 2009; invaluable assistance was provided by staff there and at the other fine libraries where I spent many happy hours the Brotherton in Leeds, Cambridge University Library, The Bodleian, the British Library and the Warburg Institute. Support staff at Selwyn College assisted with accommodation and facilitated the dovetailing of other professional responsibilities while I was visiting CUL. Leeds Trinity University College granted 80 hours of study leave in 2009/10, which formed the basis of my research time. Colleagues Hannah Lavery and Jude White at the Open University in Yorkshire bore the brunt of me taking annual leave from my other jobs for research trips. Simon Coton provided blissfully distraction-free accommodation and post-working-day gin in July 2011. The following (among others) engaged in conversation, suggested or supplied further reading, and offered helpful criticism and feedback: Stuart Burns, Majella Franzmann, Vladimir Ivanovici, Hugh Kennedy, Julia Konstantinovsky, Andrew Louth and Monica Tobin, also colleagues in the Humanities Department at Leeds Trinity University College including Nathan Uglow. Graeme Gooday was a constant source of experience, encouragement and specifically assistance with the image for the front cover. John McGuckin graciously responded very quickly to enquiries about reproducing the beautiful Icon by Eileen McGuckin, to whom also many thanks. Robin Orton meticulously read most of the book at a rough draft stage, and was generous with his time. Much gratitude is offered to Gary Pitts for all sorts of practical support. John Smedley, Sophie Lumley, Sarah Lloyd and Lianne Sherlock at Ashgate were patient and helpful at every stage, as was my proofreader, Mary Murphy. The book is dedicated with love and admiration to my two sons, whose constant distractions and curiosity about my strange addiction to research and writing ensured I remained firmly in the body.

Hannah Hunt
April 2012