ABSTRACT
The study of the human body in the Middle Ages has received increased attention in recent years. This is not surprising in light of contemporary society’s preoccupation with sexuality and identity and the challenges that have been posed to traditional sexual mores. In the contemporary world, moreover, there are shifts and fissures in our understanding of phenomena previously understood to be essential and immutable, so that even something popularly thought to be stable, such as the sexed body, has come under new scrutiny in light of the experiences of transsexual and transgendered persons. Certainly, the notion of the instability of the body meshes nicely with the theory of social construction, even as it troubles those with faith-based concerns about the complex relationship between embodiment, morality and holiness.
