Abstract

A young woman is paralyzed to preserve her virginity; a female demon described as a prostitute is brutally killed; and a woman caught in adultery is exposed in front of the congregation. What kind of gaze is it that observes and tells the story in the early Christian narrative Acts of Peter? The lecture combines postmodern feminist theories of the male gaze with a thorough investigation of the ancient Greco-Roman gender system. In particular, the intersectional concept of kyriarchy is used in order to scrutinize how class, race, sexuality and even disability intersects with gender in this narrative. I argue that the text not only objectifies, but also disables women who are perceived as sexually transgressive.

Contact

Anna Rebecca Solevåg, Professor, VID, Centre of Mission and Global Studies