Epilogue

Abstract

In his second homily on women’s dress, Tertullian reminds Christian women that indeed glory in the flesh will be theirs. The stress, however, remains on the future joy they will obtain, one that is spiritual and not simply fleshly in nature. Such a statement might strike us as odd for a Christian thinker with a penchant for defending the salvation of the flesh against a cache of less carnal soteriologies offered by Marcion or Valentinus, among others. Yet, as we have discovered, this comment registers the deep and productive ambivalence that the fleshly body—especially the female fleshly body—occupies in his thought. The flesh, he tells his female audience, who he imagines are skilled in the arts of adornment, is merely poised to receive the glory of the spirit in the resurrection, but it is not in possession of it now. The “absence” of spiritus, in fact, suggests rather than luxurious and festive raiment, mourning gear better suits the Christian woman. For what, indeed, this side of future glory would support their elaborate attempts to embellish the flesh, he asks (Cult. fem. 1.1.2)?KeywordsFemale BodyChristian WomanFemale AudienceFeminist TheologianFuneral ProcessionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.