The Burden of the Flesh: Fasting and Sexuality in Early Christianity by Teresa M. Shaw

Abstract

272BOOK reviews muminating and be very satisfied with both content and style. For that reason, the book will serve well as a college or seminary textbook. The second half of the book naturally turns to an examination of conversion within the early Christian tradition, from the first century to the fourth. And here I detect a significant change of mode. The material becomes more descriptive and less analytical. The author prefers to tell the stories of particular converts (in some cases, imaginary; in others, historical figures) rather than examine in any detail the phenomenon of conversion and its varied forms and manifestations in early Christianity. One looks in vain, even in the conclusion, for the sort of analysis of the subject so clearly laid out in the introduction and opening chapter of the book. There are only brief observations here and there. In particular, it was disappointing not to find a discussion of the changing role played by the initiatory rituals of Christianity in the Constantinian era, as they evolved from being primarily an outward expression of a profound change that was already taking place within the candidate to become instead highly theatrical means of inducing some such experience in candidates who were often not so highly motivated as their predecessors had been. One might also observe an apparent lack of acquaintance with the important work of Michel Dujarier on the early catechumenate, and note the presence of the occasional factual error, most notably the claim that at Jerusalem preparation for baptism began on Epiphany rather than at the beginning of Lent (p. 196). I am sure that very many readers (and teachers) will appreciate and enjoy the more biographical approach taken to the subject in this second half, but I believe that the shortcomings I have outlined detract from what could have been a much more profound and valuable study which Professor Finn is certainly capable of writing. Paul Bradshaw University ofNotre Dame The Burden of the Flesh: Fasting and Sexuality in Early Christianity. By Teresa M. Shaw. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press. 1998. Pp. xii, 298. $27.00 paperback .) Teresa Shaw explores a topic not always approached with either sympathy or style, and she offers both in abundance. The book is beautifully written, clear in its detail, and soundly structured. It is marked at every turn by shrewdness and respect. Neither her interest nor her approach is entirely novel. She has followed consciously and explicitly in the steps of Aline Rousselle, for example, and Peter Brown. What she adds to the debate, however, is more than polish. Her own words signal her breadth of reference: "Arguments concerning the effects of diet on the condition of the body and the soul interweave with eschatological book reviews273 images . . . , with instructions for the daily practice of female chastity and with the theological interpretation of creation, embodiment and gender" (p. 2). The insistent awareness, in particular, of human origins and final destiny colored every facet of early_Christian experience. As the author puts it, in perhaps the best part of her book, "Ascetic discipline looks back to the garden and forward to the kingdom" (p. 163). It is such a gathering of threads from practical (particularly medical) endeavor, from the formulae of faith, and from scriptural exegesis that gives the book its distinctive authority. While the focus is on fasting, one is reminded constantly of implications elsewhere. The range of Dr. Shaw's allusions (which reach back to Hesiod) is harnessed always to a clear-sighted understanding of enduring human anxieties. Herein lies her sympathy. Her patient and illuminating analysis of texts depends always on taking seriously the motives of those who wrote them. She has no wish to impose a modern sense of outrage or 'correctness' on ancient practice. While explanations remain strange to us, the urgent response to experience is instantly recognizable. Above all,Dr. Shaw rejects the glib assumption that we witness in this period the dethroning of classical rationalism. To appeal, however,to Hesiod,Plutarch, Galen, or Porphyry is not to deny that Christians gave a specific twist to long-standing traditions. Their apparent preoccupation with sex has absorbed scholars for some time; but here we have a firmer step forward...