Women in Their Place: Paul and the Corinthian Discourse of Gender and Sanctuary Space

Abstract

Women in Their Place: Paul and the Corinthian Discourse of Gender and Sanctuary Space, by Jorunn Okland. JSNTSup 269. London: TT thus, the examination can ascertain how both cosmic and urban spaces had particularly gendered associations. The divide between the private and public sphere becomes especially relevant in this analysis, as Okland maintains that sanctuary space should not be treated as a subcategory of public space, but as its own separate category (p. 58). In treating the ancient gender system of space, Okland borrows historian Yvonne Hirdman's description of two dynamics of gender distinction, a dichotomy that separates and a hierarchy that integrates. Okland will have frequent reason to return to the logics of this system throughout her analysis, since, even when the Romans or Paul begin to include women and men in similar spaces, the gendered power relations can still be maintained by hierarchical measures. Moving from the general ancient Mediterranean context to the particular spaces of early Roman Corinth, ch. 4 (Places for Women in Early Roman Corinth's Ritual and Sanctuary Spaces) carefully sketches how women are constructed in ritual space. …