You are not a man, none of you are men! Early Christian masculinity and Lucian’s the Passing of Peregrinus

Eric Stewart

doi:10.4102/hts.v75i4.5609

Abstract

Much recent work on the masculinities enacted by early Christians has focused upon Christian texts and claims about their heroes and practices among elite Christians. Lucian’s Passing of Peregrinus offers another avenue for thinking about early Christian masculinity. Lucian denies Peregrinus’ claim to masculinity on the basis of his over-concern for honour, especially from the masses, his inability to control his appetites regarding food and sex, his being a parricide, his enacting ‘strange’ ascetic practices and his lack of courage in the face of death. By tying Peregrinus to a Christian community in Judea, Lucian both demonstrates the lack of manliness in the Christian movement, which he suggests is populated mostly by gullible women and children, and further ‘unmans’ Peregrinus by linking him to a community of easily duped people whose praise is not worthy of a philosopher. By presenting this Christian community as a group that not only accepts Peregrinus as a member but also quickly establishes him as their leader, almost at par with Jesus himself, according to Lucian’s account, these early Christians show their lack of self-control by being deceived by a charlatan. Early Christian writers who claimed that their heroes were manly, even more manly than the Greek or Roman heroes, were writing in part to rebut the types of claims made by writers like Lucian.

Highlights

Men’s religion is masculinity (Podles 1999:xii). It is non-masculine men who are more likely to attend churches (Podles 1999): Because Christianity is seen as a part of the sphere of life proper to women rather than to men, it sometimes attracts men whose own masculinity is somewhat doubtful ... men who are fearful of making the break with the secure world of childhood dominated by women. (p. xiv)
The chief complaints that Lucian raises against Peregrinus regard the lack of self-control that characterises philosophers http://www.hts.org.za and martyrs
Peregrinus is too interested in the honour of the masses as opposed to the honour of other philosophers; he does not exhibit self-control in relation to sexuality or to food consumption at key moments in his life, and he displays a lack of magnanimity

Summary

Introduction

According to Lucian’s account, Peregrinus’ relationship with the Christians comes to an inglorious end when ‘after he had transgressed in some way against them – he was seen, I think, eating some of the food that is forbidden to them – they no longer accepted him’ (16) This indulgence of forbidden food is yet another way that Lucian characterises Peregrinus as unable to exhibit self-control. The significant point for this analysis is that gullibility characterises even those who seem to be people of importance when it comes to believing tales made up in light of a hero’s death This perspective helps to explain both why Lucian suggests that the Palestinian Christians might begin to worship Peregrinus and why he understands Jesus to be worshipped for having introduced a ‘new cult into the world’ (11). Lucian’s larger point here is that gullibility with respect to stories of dead charlatans (a category in which he would include both Jesus and Peregrinus) can influence the masses, and those who should know better

Conclusion

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