ISSN 2156-2253
Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, History
“The Virgin Mary in Ritual in Late Antique Egypt: Origins, Practice, and Legacy” examines the significance of the Virgin Mary for the ritual activities of Christians in Egypt, from the early conceptual roots of Marian veneration in the second century, to its diffusion among the monks of Egypt ca. 500 CE. In addition to patristics and the New Testament, this project emphasizes esoteric treatises, apocryphal stories, and ritual devices, and considers writings predominantly in Coptic, Greek, Syriac, and Latin. The dissertation challenges longstanding views that make the cult of Mary either a reflex of pagan goddess worship or a response to Christological controversy—above all, the “heresy” of docetism (i.e., the belief that Jesus' humanity and/or suffering were merely apparent). In contrast, the dissertations argues that the earliest association of Mary with divine powers was inspired by mythologies related to “heterodox” Christians—such as Valentinians, Gnostics, and Manichaeans—who variously linked Mary to spiritual powers like the primordial church, the Holy Spirit, the Virgin of Light, and the Mother of Life. These developments in doctrine and praxis reflect distinct forms of social and ritual authority among the Christians of late antiquity, who expressed competing notions of ecclesiastical and anthropological harmony, and visionary experiences. The history of Mary's ritual authority, and Christianity more generally, must always account for the contributions of so-called “heterodox” Christians even in the most unlikely ways, not within some fleeting period of early diversity, but as part of a continuous process well into the Middle Ages.Committee: David Brakke (Advisor); Kristina Sessa (Committee Member); J. Albert Harrill (Committee Member) Subjects: Ancient History; Religion
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