Defender of the Most Holy Matriarchs: Martin Luther's Interpretation of the Women of Genesis in the Enarrationes in Genesin, 1535-1545

Mickey Leland Mattox

ISBN 10: 9004128948 / ISBN 13: 9789004128941

Published by Brill Academic Pub, 2003

About this Item

352 pages. 9.50x6.50x1.00 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # __9004128948

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Defender of the Most Holy Matriarchs: Martin Luther's Interpretation of the Women of Genesis in the Enarrationes in Genesin, 1535-1545
• Publisher: Brill Academic Pub
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9004128948
• ISBN 13: 9789004128941
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.73 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

This work examines Martin Luther’s interpretation of the female characters in the stories of Genesis, drawing attention to his appropriation of premodern catholic interpretations of the biblical “saints.” In Luther’s hands, many of these women became heroic examples of the godly life newly adapted to the worldly asceticism of emerging Protestantism. Their everyday sanctity, exercised for the most part within the limits Luther believed God had imposed on their sex, displayed the kind of piety he thought should animate Christian women in their own households. Two chapters evaluate Luther’s interpretation of Eve, noting his understanding of the ideal relations between men and women. Five further chapters examine Sarah, Hagar, Rachel, the daughters and wife of Lot, and Potiphar’s wife.

About the Author

Mickey Leland Mattox, Ph.D. (1997) in Religion, Duke University, is Research Professor in the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, France.