Paul, His Nurse Metaphor (1 Thessalonians 2:7), and the Thessalonian Women Who Turned against Their Idols
Paul's image of a nursing mother/wet nurse in 1 Thess 2:7 is intriguing. Why does he use a female image to describe himself, Timothy, and Silvanus? And why does he compare three males to a singular female ("like a nurse")? I argue for an explanation of this text by first addressing th...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Catholic Biblical Association of America
2022
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| In: |
The catholic biblical quarterly
Year: 2022, Volume: 84, Issue: 2, Pages: 279-294 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Silvanus, Saint
/ Nursing
/ Wet nurse
/ Bible. Thessalonicherbrief 1. 2,7
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| IxTheo Classification: | HC New Testament KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Paul's image of a nursing mother/wet nurse in 1 Thess 2:7 is intriguing. Why does he use a female image to describe himself, Timothy, and Silvanus? And why does he compare three males to a singular female ("like a nurse")? I argue for an explanation of this text by first addressing the difficulties Christ-believing women would have faced, especially regarding childbirth. In having turned away from their idols (1 Thess 1:9), they may have felt angst as they faced childbirth. Would they relapse or even apostatize looking for help from the goddesses long thought to help birthing mothers? I relate recent kourotrophic archaeological data (i.e., nursing goddess amulets) from Thessalonica and imagery of nutrices (triadic nursing mother goddess imagery) from Roman Poetovio (modern Ptuj, Slovenia) to their situation. I suggest that Paul was very likely in an ongoing struggle with his newly converted birthing mothers to usurp the function of the goddesses upon whom they relied; he had styled himself as the nurse with the nurturing power of the gospel he brought them, assisted by Silvanus and Timothy (as in the triadic Poetovio nutrices imagery discussed). |
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| ISSN: | 2163-2529 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: The catholic biblical quarterly
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/cbq.2022.0047 |