Brooten Bernardette J. Love Between Women. Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism

The University of Chicago Press, 1996. — 448 p.Love Between Women - Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism by Bernardette J. Brooten examines female homoeroticism and the role of women in the ancient Roman world. Employing an unparalleled range of cultural sources, Brooten finds evidence of marriages between women and establishes that condemnations of female homoerotic practices were based on widespread awareness of love between women. Love Between Women - Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism by Bernardette J. Brooten is the Winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Studies Book, 1997.Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism by Bernardette J. Brooten is an extraordinary accomplishment and a definitive source for all future discussion of homoeroticism and the Bible. Brooten's convincing analysis not only profoundly reshapes our understanding of the past, but it should also shape the way in which that past, particularly the early Christian texts with their immense normative weight, will be used for the future. Love Between Women gives contemporary debates on sexuality a carefully delineated past. It boldly insists upon a different future, one informed by history but not tyrannized by it. Love Between Women - Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism by Bernardette J. Brooten is a fascinating, provocative and lucid book. Brooten has made a fundamental contribution to women's and gender studies, gay and lesbian studies, and classics.ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations and Technical Terms, Short Titles, and Keys to SymbolsIntroduction
Introduction: Of Sappho, Woman-Woman Marriage, and the Ways of the Egyptians
“Inflame Her Liver with Love”: Greek Erotic Spells from Egypt
Predetermined Erotic Orientations: Astrological Texts
Women with Masculine Desires: Medical Treatments
Unnatural Love: Classifying Dreams
Introduction: Of British Schoolteachers and Romans
Paul’s Letter to the Romans: Interpretive Frameworks and Female Homoeroticism
Romans 1:18-32: A Commentary
Intertextual Echoes in Romans 1:18-32
Tortures in Hell: Early Church Fathers on Female Homoeroticism
ConclusionSelect Annotated Bibliography on Roman 1:26f and the New Testament and Homosexuality Generally
Indexes
Glossary
Index