Defender of the Most Holy Matriarchs: Martin Luther's Interpretation of the Women of Genesis in the Enarrationes in Genesin, 1535-1545

Erscheinungsjahr 2002
ISBN: 978-90-04-12894-1
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 92, 318 Seiten, Format (B × H): 163 mm x 245 mm, Gewicht: 708 g

Reihe: Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions

This work examines Martin Luther’s interpretation of the female characters in the stories of Genesis, drawing attention to his appropriation of premodern catholic interpretations of the biblical “saints.” In Luther’s hands, many of these women became heroic examples of the godly life newly adapted to the worldly asceticism of emerging Protestantism. Their everyday sanctity, exercised for the most part within the limits Luther believed God had imposed on their sex, displayed the kind of piety he thought should animate Christian women in their own households. Two chapters evaluate Luther’s interpretation of Eve, noting his understanding of the ideal relations between men and women. Five further chapters examine Sarah, Hagar, Rachel, the daughters and wife of Lot, and Potiphar’s wife.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Mattox, Mickey Leland

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Bibelwissenschaften
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Kirchengeschichte Hagiographie
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Kirchengeschichte Theologenbiographien, Religiöse Führer

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Abbreviations
Translations
Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. Muliercula: Eve in the Young Luther’s Exegesis
2. Socia Gubernationis: Eve in the Enarrationes in Genesin
3. Sancta Domina: Luther’s Catholic Exegesis of Sarah
4. Empta Ancilla: A Hagiography of Hagar
5. Sanctae Puellae: Justifying the Daughters of Lot
6. Mulier Heroica: The Faith of Rachel
7. Turpissimum Scortum: Demonizing Potiphar’s Wife

Conclusions

Appendix 1. Genesis in Wittenberg: 1518–1545
Appendix 2. Sixteenth-Century Genesis Commentaries

Bibliography
Index of Subjects
Index of Scriptural References
Index of Names

Über Autor(innen)

Mickey Leland Mattox, Ph.D. (1997) in Religion, Duke University, is Research Professor in the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, France.