Reading Renunciation

by Elizabeth A. Clark

A study of how asceticism was promoted through Biblical interpretation, Reading Renunciation uses contemporary literary theory to unravel the writing strategies of the early Christian authors. Not a general discussion of early Christian teachings on celibacy and marriage, the book is a close examination, in the author's words, of how "the Fathers' axiology of abstinence informed their interpretation of Scriptural texts and incited the production of ascetic meaning."


Elizabeth Clark begins with a survey of scholarship concerning early Christian asceticism that is designed to orient the nonspecialist. Section Two is organized around potentially troubling issues posed by Old Testament texts that demanded skillful handling by ascetically inclined Christian exegetes. The third section, "Reading Paul," focuses on the hermeneutical problems raised by I Corinthians 7, and the Deutero-Pauline and Pastoral Epistles.


Elizabeth Clark's remarkable work will be of interest to scholars of late antiquity, religion, literary theory, and history.

Genres: History, Church History

360 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Elizabeth Clark is the John Carlisle Kilgo Professor of Religion at Duke University. She is a past president of the American Academy of Religion and the North American Patristics Society.

Reviews

[Tyson Guthrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Postmodern theorists wear me out. Liz Clark is a delightful author with whom I sympathize very little. Nevertheless, if you want to understand postmodernism, (and I would argue we must, if we are to responsible exegetes of culture and knowers of self) Clark’s work offers an exemplary application of it. This particular work was a bit redundant, and, in places, unnecessarily novel (e.g. I’m not sure the term “textual implosion” is a helpful descriptor of what it is meant to designate). No doubt Derrida and/or Foucault would have a ready explanation for the choice to invent one’s own, “different” terms.

[Logan Prettyman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterpiece. Superb scholarship. Fascinating thesis. Clark sits in the pantheon of Patristics for a reason, and this book is a large part of why.

[Amy Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic example of good scholarship. Clark's writing is clear and direct. Her use of the numerous texts is careful, but at the same time not overwrought. The breadth of her ability to place these early Christian writers in conversation with each other and offer avenues for them to be understood is vast and skillful.

I learned a great deal from this book about early Christian exegesis and commentary-writing.