ABSTRACT
Recent scholarly assessments of sexuality, sexual relations, and sexual renunciation in early Christianity are part of a larger and very lively interdisciplinary discussion that is currently shaping research in classical studies, religion, anthropology, cultural studies, and other fields. This chapter highlights some of the theoretical and methodological concerns that have distinguished recent scholarly analyses, and describes current discussions of sexuality in late ancient medical theory and moral philosophy. It focuses on the textual evidence for late ancient Judaism and earliest Christianity in order to identify and characterize some of the ancient concerns related to sexual behavior as well as some of the questions of modern research. The chapter traces aspects of early Christian discourses of sexuality to the beginning of the fifth century, focusing in particular on debates about perfectionism and rigorism, the goodness of creation and the ideal body as these relate to gender and sexual desire, and the value and role of marriage.
