本文試圖對基督教貞潔概念作初步的討論。貞潔：保持身體的完整性，對希臘羅馬異教世界是一陌生的概念，異教徒進行守貞相當罕見。在一世紀發源於巴勒斯坦的新興宗教，基督教在傳佈天國的福音之時，鼓勵信徒守貞也是好消息的其中之一。守貞使得身體重新被定義，特別是在異教世界負有生育重任的女性。本文從回顧古典文明女性形象開始，再進入基督教文獻對女性與守貞的討論。第一章先檢視古典文明中婚姻及家庭對文明延續的重要性，以及女性所扮演的關鍵角色；另外，也設法了解何以貞潔在古典文明中無法有適當之定位。本章係作為後續篇章的探索背景。第二章則以帖克拉行傳與保羅〈哥林多前書〉和〈提摩太前書〉為研究重點，探索早期基督教意識形態對身體的意義所帶來的衝擊，以及貞潔概念之重要性。第三章以教父文學之中對貞潔概念之探討為中心，分析其神學意涵，特別是以亞他納修斯的兩封書簡與傑容書信為討論重點，分析守貞與婚姻的關係，以及基督教意識形態對婚姻與家庭概念之重構。第四章則探討貞女生活之實踐，以聖徒傳作為範例探索變裝、變性以及性格改變為探索依據，透過這些討論希望藉此對基督教貞潔概念之崛起、內容以及意涵進行初步的探討。

The present thesis is a preliminary inquiry into the concepts of virginity in the early Christian Church. The Christian idea of virginity refers to an idea of the physical integrity, unfamiliar to the Greco-Roman world where women were expected and encouraged to give birth to continue the city and the nation. However, the new religion from Palestine in the 1st Century C.E., Christianity, spread the gospel of salvation and advocated virginity as a virtue vital to salvation. In this way body was redefined by this idea of virginity a result. It brought forth an impact to the pagan culture and aroused a great reaction.

My inquiry will be composed of four parts. First of all, it is necessary to trace the ideal image of women in the Greco-Roman society and inspect the possible relationship between women, reproduction and virginity in the classical documents. It will be seen that marriage and family will feature very significantly in the Classical discourse on sex and gender; virginity is regarded as contradictory to the cultural construction of women as productive and reproductive. In the second chapter I will deal with Christian women in the Greco-Roman world before Constantine. It will explore the idea of virginity and its implications, based mainly on the texts of The Acts of Paul and Thecla, 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy. In the third chapter we will reach the post-Constantine age and focus on the some Patristic texts with regard to virginity, we will analyze its meaning in terms of theological implications. It will be particularly concerned with Athanasius’ two letters to virgins and Jerome’s many letters addressed to the noble women in Rome. With these texts, marriage and the family it creates will be reconstructed under the Christian dispensation. My discussion will point out the curious situation that human marriage is maintained but transformed into that between Christ and a virgin; the idea of family is placed on the idea of a shared belief regardless the biological link. The last chapter will be about the practical aspect of virginity and I will use hagiographical materials to see how the ideal of virginity is realized in practice. It will bring about the interesting phenomena of transvestism, change of sex and that of temperaments. These imply that sainthood remains a monopoly of men. Finally, my brief conclusion will raise a doubt on the radical nature of virginity.

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