ABSTRACT
This chapter provides historical, religious, and social context for the reading of images in the rest of the book. It traces the development of discourses on two ways of life—one (marriage, work, etc.) focused on life in this world, the other (celibacy, virginity, renunciation, etc.) centered on the next—over the first four Christian centuries. The discussion includes the development of a belief in a three-tiered system of eternal rewards for lifelong virgins, celibate widows, and the married (or only the continent married), as well as evidence of objections to this teaching.
