The Seduction of Self-Control: Hermas and the Problem of Desire
In: Religion and TheologySearch for other papers by B. Diane Wudel in
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Abstract
In both narrative passages and ethical precepts, the early Christian text The Shepherd of Hermas places great emphasis on the virtue of enkrateia, self-control or self-restraint. At the same time, surprisingly erotic elements appear, beginning with an opening scene in which Hermas observes a woman of beauty and character emerging from her bath. Epithumia, desire, is immediately problematized. Though the text?s continuing interplay between motifs of desire and self-restraint at times seems clumsy, one can argue that it is nevertheless coherent and linked to the text?s depiction of masculinity. In the end, The Shepherd of Hermas seems to narrate the key task in Christian self-formation not as the suppression or repression of desire, but as the exercise of techniques of self scrutiny that lead to the seductions of self-control, the luxuriousness of virtue, the manly surrender to holy desire.
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The Seduction of Self-Control: Hermas and the Problem of Desire
In: Religion and TheologySearch for other papers by B. Diane Wudel in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
In both narrative passages and ethical precepts, the early Christian text The Shepherd of Hermas places great emphasis on the virtue of enkrateia, self-control or self-restraint. At the same time, surprisingly erotic elements appear, beginning with an opening scene in which Hermas observes a woman of beauty and character emerging from her bath. Epithumia, desire, is immediately problematized. Though the text?s continuing interplay between motifs of desire and self-restraint at times seems clumsy, one can argue that it is nevertheless coherent and linked to the text?s depiction of masculinity. In the end, The Shepherd of Hermas seems to narrate the key task in Christian self-formation not as the suppression or repression of desire, but as the exercise of techniques of self scrutiny that lead to the seductions of self-control, the luxuriousness of virtue, the manly surrender to holy desire.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 333 | 59 | 8 |
| Full Text Views | 73 | 0 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 41 | 0 | 0 |
