Title: Resistance to the Virginal Ideal in Late-Fourth-Century Rome: The Case of Jovinian
Abstract: O RELIGION has invented a new dogma against nature, wrote the monk Jovinian, thus characterizing the exaltation of virginity and asceticism in the fourth-century Church. Condemned in the early 390s by a synod at Rome under Pope Siricius, then later at Milan under Ambrose, Jovinian's primary offense was to equate the merits of virgins, widows, and married persons and to oppose the value of ascetical fasting. He is also said to have taught that baptized Christians could not be overthrown by the devil and that Mary lost her virginity in the process of giving birth. Jovinian's views called forth a lengthy refutation by Jerome sometime before the Roman condemnation; later, Augustine also found it necessary to meet the spread of Jovinian's ideas and so composed his De bono coniugali in 401. Jovinian deserves to be re-examined for both historical and theological reasons. Historically, Jovinian represents a reaction against the wave of ascetic enthusiasm which spread throughout the Church in the fourth century. Various kinds of objections to virginity and asceticism can be found in fourth-century sources: parents objected to losing their children to the monastic life; emperors opposed the flight of citizens who were
Publication Year: 1987
Publication Date: 1987-03-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 152
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