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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 February 2009
Reflecting upon ethical ideals upheld by the Apostolic Fathers scholars have noted the presence of a ‘positive attitude towards pagan society’, ‘ideas comparable to those of nineteenth-century petty bourgeoisie’, a vision of the church made up of ‘generous householders, well-disciplined children, submissive wives, and reliable slaves’. Commenting on the renunciation of Paul's preference for virginity by the beginning of the second century, Elizabeth A. Clark concludes that ‘… the ordering of the household deemed normal by late ancient pagan society tended to prevail in Christianity as well’. Recent work on the implications of remaining unmarried for the lives of early Christian women has perhaps allowed the tipping of the scale away from the preference for the privileges of virginity towards the ideal of wifely submission to stand out in even fuller relief. The obvious question is why the Christian ideal of the married couple with its apparent openness to Greco-Roman ethics emerges so boldly at the turn of the century. The attractive solution most frequently proposed is, as Clark puts it, that wives exhibiting the characteristic virtues of good domestic order, discretion and modesty, stood as ‘apologists for the new faith’.
1 Schoedel, W. R., ‘Theological Norms and Social Perspectives in Ignatius of Antioch’, Jewish and Christian Self-Definition vol. 1: The Shaping of Christianity in the Second and Third Centuries (ed. Sanders, E. P.; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980) 50.Google Scholar
2 Grant, R. M., ‘The Social Setting of Second-Century Christianity’, Sanders, , ed., Jewish and Christian, 25.Google Scholar
3 Brown, P., The Body and Society: Men, Women and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity (London: Faber and Faber, 1989) 58Google Scholar.
4 Clark, E. A., ‘Early Christian Women: Sources and Interpretation’, The Gentle Strength: Historical Perspectives on Women in Christianity (ed. Coon, L. et al. ; Charlottesville and London: University of Virginia, 1990) 21.Google Scholar
5 See MacDonald, M. Y., ‘Women Holy in Body and Spirit: the Social Setting of 1 Corinthians 7’, NTS 36 (1990) 161–81CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fiorenza, E. S., In Memory of Her: A Feminist Theological Reconstruction of Christian Origins (London: SCM, 1983) 224–6.Google Scholar
6 Clark, ‘Early Christian Women: Sources’, 22.
7 On the Paulinism of Ignatius see Schoedel, W. R., Ignatius of Antioch: A Commentary on the Letters of Ignatius of Antioch (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985) 9–10Google Scholar; Grant, R. M., The Apostolic Fathers vol. 4: Ignatius of Antioch (London: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1966) 24Google Scholar. Note that it is generally thought that Ignatius was arrested during the reign of Trajan – between about 100–18 CE; see Schoedel, Ignatius, 5. Scholars are now frequently acknowledging that in many ways the Apostolic Fathers and the New Testament belong to the same world. Schoedel, for example, argues: ‘… they [Ignatius' letters] frequently put us in touch with developments that have roots in the first century, and they often set features of the New Testament writings themselves in clearer perspective …’ (Ignatius, xi).
8 Here I am following the definition of institutionalization found in Berger, P. L. and Luckmann, T., The Social Construction of Reality (Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1966Google Scholar). On the use of the term for the study of the early church see MacDonald, M. Y., The Pauline Churches: A Socio-Historical Study of Institutionalization in the Pauline and Deutero-Pauline Writings (SNTSMS 60; Cambridge: University, 1988) 11–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9 On the use of Wilson's findings for the study of early Christianity see for example MacDonald, Pauline Churches, 34–42; Elliott, J. H., A Home for the Homeless (London: SCM, 1982) 73–8Google Scholar; Maier, H. O., ‘The Charismatic Authority of Ignatius of Antioch’, SR 18 (1989) 192–8Google Scholar. On the methodological questions raised by this approach see note 16 below.
10 Wilson, B., Sects and Society (London: Heinemann, 1961)Google Scholar 1. See also Religion in a Sociological Perspective (Oxford: University, 1982) 89–120.Google Scholar
11 Wilson, Religion, 92.
12 Wilson, B., ‘An Analysis of Sect Development’, Patterns of Sectarianism (ed. Wilson, B.; London: Heinemann, 1967) 37.Google Scholar
13 See B. Wilson, ‘The Pentecostal Minister’, Wilson, ed., Patterns, 152–3.
14 See E. Isichei, ‘From Sect to Denomination among English Quakers’, Wilson, ed., Patterns, 169–70.
15 R. Robertson, ‘The Salvation Army: the Persistence of Sectarianism’, Wilson, ed., Patterns, 86.
16 B. Wilson's work on sects includes a seven-part typology based on various responses to the world. See Magic and the Millennium (New York: Harper and Row, 1973) 22–3Google Scholar; Holmberg, B., Sociology and the New Testament: An Appraisal (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990) 94Google Scholar. Holmberg has undertaken a thorough study of the use of the ‘church-sect’ distinction applied to early Christianity and has argued that employing a model which is not truly cross-cultural represents a methodological flaw; modern Christian sects are used to explain the nature of the movement they are trying to mirror. While I would agree with Holmberg that the cross-cultural ideal is a good one, I would not negate the value of comparing Christian sects of later ages to the early Christian church. Since so much is known about modern sects, the value of the comparison lies in its ability to bring aspects of the early church into sharper focus. Characteristics of modern Christian sects which appear in living colour might be there in less obviously discernible forms in early Christianity if one asks the right questions. Bryan Wilson has, in fact, responded to the criticism that his typology depends on assumptions that are particular to Christians by noting that ‘… as anyone who has engaged in empirical sociological enquiry knows, concepts at a high level of generality and abstraction are often of very limited value in application to any one specific culture’. (See Religion, 101.) At any rate, as Holmberg himself acknowledges, while it has not escaped criticism, Wilson's work includes serious attempts to deal with the cultural limitations and biases of earlier work on sects. (See Holmberg, Sociology, 77–117.)
17 Wilson, ‘An Analysis’, 37–8.
18 Ibid., 37–42. For a definition of denomination see p. 25. Wilson here is responding to earlier work on denominations by R. Niebuhr. Wilson reacts against Niebuhr's notion that sects inevitably become denominations. See discussion in Wilson, Religion, 95–100.
19 Wilson, ‘An Analysis’, 44.
20 The translation of the Ignatian text employed throughout is by Lake, K., Apostolic Fathers 1 (LCL; Cambridge: Harvard University, 1977)Google Scholar. For discussion of the authenticity of the Ignatian correspondence, textual problems, and the modern consensus see Schoedel, Ignatius, 3–7.
21 On Ignatius and Rome see Schoedel, ‘Theological Norms’, 52–6.
22 Grant, Ignatius, 133. In treating Ignatius' discussion of marriage in Ign. Pol. 5.1–2 within the broader context of 4.1–5.2 I am also following Grant. In this text Ignatius is especially concerned with behaviour of various groups which form part of the membership of the church, echoing the interests of the NT household codes.
23 See Yarbrough, O. L., Not Like the Gentiles: Marriage Rules in the Letters of Paul (SBLDS 80; Atlanta: Scholars, 1985) 65–87Google Scholar. See his discussion of the problems of translating 1 Thess 4.3–8, pp. 68–76. He argues that it is important to understand vv. 3–8 within the larger context of vv. 1–12 which expresses a desire to command the respect of outsiders (v. 12).
24 On this text see MacDonald, ‘Women Holy’, 162–3.
25 See Newton, M., The Concept of Purity at Qumran and in the Letters of Paul (SNTSMS 53; Cambridge: University, 1985) 110–14CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
26 Schoedel, Ignatius, 270.
27 On the frequency of meetings and the maintenance of sectarian identity see G. Willis and B. Wilson, ‘The Churches of God: Pattern and Practices’, Wilson, ed., Patterns, 272.
28 On the relationship between sectarian identity and beliefs about evil in Ignatius see H. O. Maier, ‘Charismatic Authority’, 196–7.
29 On widows in the New Testament see Thurston, B. Bowman, The Widows: A Women's Ministry in the Early Church (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989) 18–55.Google Scholar
30 Trans. RSV.
31 See Pomeroy, S., Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity (New York: Schocken, 1975) 149–50, 158, 161Google Scholar; Balsdon, J. P. V. D., Roman Women: Their History and Habits (London: Bodley Head, 1962) 76–7, 89–90, 220–2Google Scholar; MacDonald, Pauline Churches, 185–7; Portefaix, L., Sisters Rejoice: Paul's Letter to the Philippians and Luke–Acts as Received by First-Century Philippian Women (CB 20; Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International) 27–8, 182–3.Google Scholar
32 On outsiders noting the activity of widows in the early church see Lucian, ‘The Passing of Peregrinus; text cited in Bowman Thurston, The Widows, 74–5.
33 See Schoedel, Ignatius, 269; see also Bowman Thurston, The Widows, 65.
34 See for example Camelot, P. Th., Ignace d'Antioche (SC; Paris: Editions du Cerf, 1958) 174–5.Google Scholar
35 Schoedel, Ignatius, 271; see also Portefaix, Sisters, 26–7.
36 On slander and the works of the devil see MacDonald, Pauline Churches, 167–8.
37 Note that the term ‘φθείρω’ and its cognates are used in connection with the seduction of virgins (cf. 2 Cor 11.2; Diogn. 12.8); see BAGD, (Chicago and London: University of Chicago, 1979) 857.Google Scholar
38 See Pomeroy, Goddesses, 212; Balsdon, Roman Women, 14, 241–2. On the link between the religious activities of women and accusations of sedition and immorality see D. L. Balch, Let Wives Be Submissive: The Domestic Code in 1 Peter (SBLMS 26; Chico, CA: Scholars, 1981) 65–80; MacDonald, ‘Women Holy’, 176–9. On ἐν ἁγνείᾳ μένειν referring to celibacy see BAGD, 10.
39 Virgins are probably being included here in an official group of chaste women who were dependent on the church for support and/or were members of an order that provided service to the church. See discussion in Schoedel, Ignatius, 252.
40 On the various traditions and influences in Asia Minor see Fiorenza, In Memory, 245–50. The Acts of Paul and the Acts of Peter are particularly significant. Of the two texts, an Asia Minor place of origin is certain only for the Acts of Paul. But the probable use of the Acts of Paul by the author of the Acts of Peter has led some to suggest that it too originated in Asia Minor. Both must have been written before the end of the second century. See Hennecke, E., New Testament Apocrypha 2 (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1965) 275, 351Google Scholar. Even if the Acts of Paul and the Acts of Peter were much later in the second century than Ignatius, the tendencies they exhibit may well have been present much earlier; see MacDonald, D. R., The Legend and the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1983).Google Scholar
41 On the parallel nature of the exhortations on marriage and continence in Ign. Pol. 5.1–2 see d'Alés, A., ‘EΑΝ ΓΝΩΣΘΗΙ ΠΛΕΟΝ ΤΟΥ ΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ, ΕΦΘΑΡΤΑΙ’, RSR 25 (1935) 489–92.Google Scholar
42 For several examples see Yarbrough, Not Like, 13–18. It is possible to speak of a tendency towards endogamy in the Roman Empire in general with respect to the protection of the family. J. F. Gardner states: ‘… both [in the senatorial class] and at lower levels of society a degree of endogamy could be a strategy, along with the encouragement of marriage without manus, for trying to restrict the dispersal of family property’. See Women in Roman Law and Society (London & Sydney: Croom Helm, 1986) 35Google Scholar; see also pp. 35–8. Note that B. Malina has argued from the perspective of cultural anthropology that endogamy (‘the prohibiting of marriage outside the kinship group’) was the preference in the first-century Mediterranean world. See The New Testament World (London: SCM, 1983) 96, 94–121Google Scholar; on the Jewish period in particular see pp. 109–13.
43 Trans. RSV.
44 See MacDonald, Pauline Churches, 32–42.
45 This is how Malina reads the text; see New Testament, 116.
46 For patristic evidence on the authority of the Church in marriage and weddings see Godefroy, L., Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique 9 (Paris: Librairie Letouzey et Ané, 1927) 2104–5.Google Scholar
47 Although it is impossible to be certain if Ignatius knows the text of Eph 5 or simply shares with its author a traditional theme, it is evident that both authors greatly value the Christian couple and have the unity of the church as a central concern. On Ephesians and Ignatius see Schoedel, Ignatius, 9. On the meaning of Eph 5.21–33 see MacDonald, Pauline Churches, 115–20; on unity in Ephesians see pp. 94–7, 154–6.
48 See MacDonald, M. Y, ‘Early Christian Women Married to Unbelievers’, SR 19 (1990) 221–34.Google Scholar
49 On requirements for church officials see D. Verner, C., The Household of God: The Social World of the Pastoral Epistles (SBLDS 71; Chico, CA: Scholars, 1983).Google Scholar
50 See Pliny the Younger Letters 10.96. On mixed marriage leading to apostasy see especially Philo Spec. Laws 3.29 (cited in Yarbrough, Not Like, 15–16).
51 Note that Tertullian uses the presence of monogamist clergy in a marriage ceremony as an argument against second marriage. See De Monogamia 11.
52 For extensive discussion of the relationship between early Christian marriage teaching and pagan ideals see Brown, P., ‘Late Antiquity’ in A History of Private Life vol. 1 (ed. Veyne, P.; Cambridge, Mass. and London: The Belknap, 1987) 246–51, 259–66Google Scholar; Yarbrough, Not Like, 31–63. Schoedel identifies marriage as one of the many areas where Ignatius expresses a relatively positive attitude towards pagan society; see ‘Theological Norms’, 50.
53 Brown here speaks of the use of the imagery in the NT Epistle to the Ephesians, but his comments are equally applicable to Ignatius. See The Body, 57. On the relation between control of sexuality and Christian identity see Laeuchli, S., Power and Sexuality: The Emergence of Canon Law at the Synod of Elvira (Philadelphia: Temple University, 1972)Google Scholar. For a social-scientific analysis of marriage and the development of communal identity see Todd, E., The Explanation of Ideology: Family Structures and Social Systems (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985).Google Scholar
54 A particularly intriguing parallel is offered by a private religious association from Philadelphia in the first century BCE where fidelity within marriage is clearly the responsibility of both husband and wife and ethical injunctions are linked with serious religious consequences; trans, in Grant, F. C., Hellenistic Religions (New York: Liberal Arts, 1953) 29Google Scholar. See also Schoedel, ‘Theological Norms’, 47, 50; Ignatius, 272. For a second fascinating parallel from the first century CE see Musonius Rufus, Fragment 12, cited in Malherbe, A., Moral Exhortation, A Greco-Roman Sourcebook (Library of Early Christianity, ed. Meeks, W.; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1986) 152–4.Google Scholar
55 Here the perspective of cultural anthropology has produced some helpful results. See for example Stevens, M. ‘Paternity and Maternity in the Mediterranean: Foundations for Patriarchy’, BTB 20 (1990) 47–52Google Scholar; Malina, New Testament, 25–50, 94–121; Malina, B., ‘The Social World Implied in the Letters of the Christian Bishop-Martyr (Named Ignatius of Antioch)’, Achtemeier, P. J., ed., SBLSP 2 (1978) 95–9.Google Scholar
56 See discussion Fox, R. L., Pagans and Christians in the Mediterranean World from the Second Century AD to the Conversion of Constantine (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1988) 370–4Google Scholar; on the relationship between the Christian imagery and the Jewish texts where Israel is described as God's bride and idolatry is compared to fornication see pp. 370–2.
57 For trans, of 2 Clem. employed here see note 20 above.
58 Schoedel, ‘Theological Norms’, 50; cf. Brown, The Body, 58–9.
59 On the details of the Augustan legislation of 18 BCE and 9 CE (lex Julia et Papia) in general see Gardner, Women, 77–8; on adultery see pp. 127–31. See also Brown, The Body, 23–5.
60 See Portefaix, Sisters, 118.
61 See Gardner, Women, 81–2, 224; see also Portefaix, Sisters, 29–30.
62 See Portefaix, Sisters, 23–8; Gardner, Women, 132–4, 222–9. Note that P. Brown has linked the appeal of early Christian morality to the condition of the socially vulnerable members of moderately well-to-do households; see ‘Late Antiquity’, 261.
63 On the influential role of women in the second-century church see Grant, ‘Second-Century Christianity’, 27–9. On the women mentioned in Ignatius see especially Fiorenza, In Memory, 247–8; see also Schoedel, Ignatius, 252–3, 280.
64 Schoedel, Ignatius, 23.
65 On asceticism in 2 Clem. see MacDonald, D. R., There Is No Male and Female: The Fate of a Dominical Saying in Paul and Gnosticism (HDR 20; Philadelphia: Fortress, 1987) 42–3.Google Scholar
66 See Schoedel, Ignatius, 272.
67 Ibid.
68 Ign. Magn. 13.1–2 is especially interesting to consider here. In this exhortation language calling to mind the drawing together of opposites is intertwined with central religious convictions in an effort to instil harmony in community life. On polarities in general see Schoedel, Ignatius, 23–8.
69 Note that studies of modern sect development have illustrated not only that sects do not always evolve into denominations, but also that sects may move through successive stages of inward and outward orientation. See Isichei, ‘From Sect’, 180–1.
70 See Brown, ‘Late Antiquity’, 259.
71 On food see Theissen, G., ‘The Strong and the Weak in Corinth: A Sociological Analysis of a Theological Quarrel’, The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1982) 132–7Google Scholar. On mixed marriage see MacDonald, ‘Early Christian Women’.