LEADER 04388nam 2200697Ia 450 001 9910812182003321 005 20240418030145.0 010 $a0-8122-0151-5 024 7 $a10.9783/9780812201512 035 $a(CKB)2670000000418168 035 $a(OCoLC)859162263 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebrary10748340 035 $a(SSID)ssj0001035984 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11656935 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0001035984 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)11041099 035 $a(PQKB)10519178 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse27908 035 $a(DE-B1597)449003 035 $a(OCoLC)979778659 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780812201512 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3442030 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10748340 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL682323 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3442030 035 $a(EXLCZ)992670000000418168 100 $a20080128d2008 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aSaving shame $emartyrs, saints, and other abject subjects /$fVirginia Burrus 205 $a1st ed. 210 $aPhiladelphia, Pa. $cUniversity of Pennsylvania Press$dc2008 215 $a1 online resource (208 p.) 225 0 $aDivinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion 225 0$aDivinations 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 0 $a1-322-51041-5 311 0 $a0-8122-4044-8 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [177]-186) and index. 327 $tFront matter --$tContents --$tPreface: My Shame --$tIntroduction: Outing Shame --$tChapter 1. Shameless Witnesses --$tChapter 2. An Embarrassment of Flesh --$tChapter 3. The Desire and Pursuit of Humiliation --$tChapter 4. Shameful Confessions --$tAfterword: Shame, Politics, Love --$tNotes --$tBibliography --$tIndex --$tAcknowledgments 330 $aVirginia Burrus explores one of the strongest and most disturbing aspects of the Christian tradition, its excessive preoccupation with shame. While Christianity has frequently been implicated in the conversion of ancient Mediterranean cultures from shame- to guilt-based and, thus, in the emergence of the modern West's emphasis on guilt, Burrus seeks to recuperate the importance of shame for Christian culture. Focusing on late antiquity, she explores a range of fascinating phenomena, from the flamboyant performances of martyrs to the imagined abjection of Christ, from the self-humiliating disciplines of ascetics to the intimate disclosures of Augustine. Burrus argues that Christianity innovated less by replacing shame with guilt than by embracing shame. Indeed, the ancient Christians sacrificed honor but laid claim to their own shame with great energy, at once intensifying and transforming it. Public spectacles of martyrdom became the most visible means through which vulnerability to shame was converted into a defiant witness of identity; this was also where the sacrificial death of the self exemplified by Christ's crucifixion was most explicitly appropriated by his followers. Shame showed a more private face as well, as Burrus demonstrates. The ambivalent lure of fleshly corruptibility was explored in the theological imaginary of incarnational Christology. It was further embodied in the transgressive disciplines of saints who plumbed the depths of humiliation. Eventually, with the advent of literary and monastic confessional practices, the shame of sin's inexhaustibility made itself heard in the revelations of testimonial discourse. In conversation with an eclectic constellation of theorists, Burrus interweaves her historical argument with theological, psychological, and ethical reflections. She proposes, finally, that early Christian texts may have much to teach us about the secrets of shame that lie at the heart of our capacity for humility, courage, and transformative love. 606 $aShame$xReligious aspects$xChristianity 606 $aHumiliation 610 $aAncient Studies. 610 $aCultural Studies. 610 $aLiterature. 610 $aReligion. 615 0$aShame$xReligious aspects$xChristianity. 615 0$aHumiliation. 676 $a152.4/4 700 $aBurrus$b Virginia$0729834 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910812182003321 996 $aSaving shame$93973780 997 $aUNINA