Maximos affirms in various texts (such as Difficulty 41) that sexual differentiation into male and female is inconsistent with the divine intention and will therefore be eschatologically eradicated. His affirmations have elicited a half-dozen conflicting interpretations, such as the metaphorization of these statements, where 'male' refers to drive (thymos) and 'female' to desire (epithymia), which become subordinate to reason (logos). Others maintain that he refers to the resolution of male–female agonistics. Yet others have criticized accounts that mollify the starkness of Maximos' affirmations. This Element goes further in arguing that Maximos tacitly envisions the elimination of sexual difference as sublimation of all sexual difference into male singularity. This Element overviews the exegetical and medical-anthropological precedents that framed Maximos thinking on this subject and examines some of his key texts, including his famed Difficulty 41 and several passages centered on explicating Eve and Adam, and Mary and Christ.
By:
Luis Josué Salés (Scripps College) Imprint: Cambridge University Press Country of Publication: United Kingdom Weight: 127g ISBN:9781009492218 ISBN 10: 1009492217 Series:Elements in Early Christian Literature Pages: 76 Publication Date:20 March 2025 Audience:
College/higher education
,
Further / Higher Education
Format:Paperback Publisher's Status: Active
1. Androprimacy and the Sexed Body in Late Antiquity; 2. A New Reading of Difficulty; 3. Eve and Mary in Maximos' Exegesis; Conclusion; List of Abbreviations; Bibliography.
