Of Sodomites, Effeminates, Hermaphrodites, and Androgynes: Sodomy in the Age of Peter Damian

This book examines the history of sex and gender from a linguistic, artistic, and philosophical perspective, providing a new paradigm with which to analyze this controversial subject. Glenn Olsen's wide-ranging scholarship and his attention to primary sources and contemporary interpretations are enhanced by the inclusion of numerous illustrations of Romanesque sculpture. Part one takes the reader on a journey from the ancient world through the early middle ages, examining literature, art, and sculpture in order to capture the 'sexual imagination' of the period. Olsen emphasizes that all centuries had a varied language of sex, focusing on the means by which 'sex' was put into words, especially in penitentials and canon law. He shows there was no single understanding of gender and power relationships, arguing that the story of gender should encompass more than the history of power. Part two turns to Peter Damian, especially his Epistle 31, the so-called Book of Gomorrah. Olsen explores the themes of nature, sin, demonic incitement, lust, free will, and effeminacy, as well as the question of whether Damian represented the onset of the 'persecuting society.'

Author: Glenn W. Olsen
Publisher: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies
Published: 10/01/2011
Pages: 523
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.20lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.40w x 1.70d
ISBN: 9780888441768

About the Author
Glenn W. Olsen is Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Utah. He has taught at Seattle University, Fordham University, and has been visiting professor at St. John's University, the University of Notre Dame, Vilnius University, and Franciscan University in Austria. He is the editor of "Christian Marriage: A Historical Study" (2001), the author of "Beginning at Jerusalem: Five Reflections on the History of the Church" (2004) and, most recently, "The Turn to Transcendence: The Role of Religion in the Twenty-First Century" (2010), as well as numerous articles in medieval intellectual history. He has also published in patristics, the history of law, the history of sexuality, church history, and on many modern topics in philosophy, theology, political thought, and cultural criticism.


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