Adriana Valerio

Wendy Wheatley

Mary Magdalene

“Brilliant . . . Essential reading for anyone who cares about Church history and gender equality. . . . speaks to our times with impressive relevance.” —Reading in Translation From one of Italy’s most renowned historians of religion, an exciting new portrait of one of Christianity’s most complex—and most misunderstood—figures: Mary Magdalene Jesus’ favorite and most devoted disciple? A prostitute shunned from her community? A symbol of female leadership and independence? Who really was Mary Magdalene, and how does her story fit within the history of Christianity, and that of female emancipation? In this meticulously researched, highly engaging book, Adriana Valerio looks at history, art, and literature to show how centuries of misinterpretation and willful distortion—aimed at establishing and preserving gender hierarchies—have stripped this historical figure of her complexity and relevance. By revealing both the benign and the pernicious misrepresentations of Mary Magdalene, this thought-provoking essay reaffirms the central role played by women in the origins of Christianity and their essential contribution to one of the founding experiences of Western thought and society. “Persuasive. . . . Academics working in Christianity should get much from this well-argued study.” —Publishers Weekly “A masterful work.” —Osservatore Romano “A short and readable yet sweeping and well-researched essay that stands out for its intellectual honesty [ . . . ] We are all Mary Magdalene.” —Cultura al femminile

Women, the Church, and the Great Deception

donne e Bibbia tra mito e storia

Le ribelli di Dio

Maria Montessori

Kari Elisabeth Børresen

An international collection of ecumenical, gender-sensitive interpretations The latest volume in the Bible and Women series examines the relationship between women and the Bible's reception in the centuries of the High and Late Middle Ages in Europe. Contributors bring a variety of new insights to questions of how women of the Bible were treated in literary, mystical, and doctrinal texts as well as in art and music. Though the Bible was used to legitimize the subordination of women to men and to exclude them from power, during this period women produced works of theology and biblical interpretation. Contributors include Gemma Avenoza, Marina Benedetti, Dinora Corsi, Maria Laura Giordano, Elisabeth Gössmann, Maria Leticia Sánchez Hernández, Hildegund Keul, Linda Maria Koldau, Martina Kreidler-Kos, Rita Librandi, Gary Macy, Constant J. Mews, Magda Motté, Rosa María Parrinello, María Isabel Toro Pascua, Claudia Poggi, Carmel Posa, Marina Santini, Valeria Ferrari Schiefer, Andrea Taschl-Erber, Adriana Valerio, and Paola Vitolo. Features Essays on the treatment of women in commentaries and didactic moral literature written by men Close study of women as scholars and interpreters of the Bible from the twelfth through the fifteen centuries Twenty-one essays from twenty-three scholars from around the world

The High Middle Ages

Rediscover the crucial roles held by women within the heart of Christianity. Favourite disciple, influential woman, true believer and follower of Jesus: how do we see Mary Magdalene today? Witness to Jesus’ crucifixion and his burial, the first to announce the resurrection, she is without a doubt the most recognizable of the gospels’ female figures, a central character in Christianity’s foundational story. But centuries of alteration and resizing, of merging several female figures into one, have erased Mary Madgalene’s apostolic role and left us with a misrepresentation. They delivered the figure of a quintessential repentant sinner, one in whom sensual beauty and mortification of the body are combined. When we reflect on the "Magdalene case", delving into the folds of history and the arts, and removing misunderstandings and manipulations, we rediscover the crucial roles women have always held within the heart of Christianity, despite their stories often going untold. Adriana Valerio’s engrossing retelling of Magdalene’s story, founded as it is in historical fact, is an unmissable opportunity to reclaim such roles in a church that remains largely patriarchal to the present day.

Kari Elisabeth Boerresen

Der Band bietet neue Erkenntnisse über den Umgang von Frauen mit der Bibel in literarischen, mystischen wie auch doktrinalen Texten und gibt Einblick in die Rezeption biblischer Themen in der Kunst und in der Musik. Dabei lässt sich einerseits ein Traditionsstrang von der Gregorianischen Reform (1046-1122) bis zum Hexenhammer (1498) verfolgen, der die Bibel zur Legitimation der Unterordnung der Frauen und ihres Ausschlusses aus der Sphäre der Macht benutzt. Andererseits entfaltet sich in dieser Epoche auch Gegenteiliges: Von Eloise (gest. 1164) bis zu Christine de Pizan (gest. 1430) begegnet man gelehrten Frauen, die sich ihrer weiblichen Identität bewusst sind, diese in ihren eigenen Schriften thematisieren und die mit den biblischen Texten, Figuren und Themen bestens vertraut sind.

Rezeption und Interpretation

Frauen und Bibel im Mittelalter

Sabine Bieberstein

Valeria Ferrari Schiefer

Angela Berlis

This volume with its emphasis on "Southern Europe" is devoted now for the second time to theological research by women in a particular region of Europe. Women doing research in France, Italy, Spain and Greece provide evidence of and reflection on the history of women's theological studies in their countries and present the results of their studies. These reveal an impressive spectrum of theological research which sometimes has been and must be conducted in difficult structural contexts and under very different economic conditions. This makes the vitality of the research presented all the more convincing; in the different contexts of the individual countries it demonstrates specific and very varied emphases in academic theory and method. Precisely because of their complex and diverse points of departure, the articles evidence a fundamental, interdisciplinary approach and a creative way of seeing things which is concerned to ensure a fundamental openness for debate and dialogue. This volume thus provides an insight into the fascinating diversity and complexity of theological research in Europe.

Adriana Valerio

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