ABSTRACT
The study of sexuality in early and late ancient Christianity is no exception, and the last fifteen years or so have been especially generative of thoughtful investigations into the construction of sex and sexuality in the first several centuries of the common era. This chapter begins with a supplementary discussion of the theoretical frames that have shaped the history of sexuality and the addition of queer theory to the conversation. It then seeks to point the reader toward topics and themes in recent scholarship that broaden our understanding of the history of sexuality and sexual renunciation in the first centuries of the common era. These include new scholarship on the history of sexuality in late ancient Judaism; newly available (English translations of) sources in Syriac and Coptic that broaden the archive for the study of late ancient Christianity; emerging themes in the study of masculinity; and sex in the context of the institution of slavery.
