Holy Spirit Mother, the Baptismal Womb, and the Walesby Tank: Excavating Early Christian Women Baptizers
Writers starting with Tertullian and the author behind the Didascalia Apostolorum attest to the presence of early Christian women baptizers, as do a variety of later writers. The early Christian tradition of Holy Spirit as female and mother, her womb the font of new birth (Jn 3.3-5), helps illuminat...
| 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: |
Sage
2023
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| In: |
Feminist theology
Year: 2023, Volume: 31, Issue: 2, Pages: 143-164 |
| IxTheo Classification: | FD Contextual theology HH Archaeology KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity NBP Sacramentology; sacraments |
| Further subjects: | B
Holy Spirit
B Baptism B Nicene Creed B Walesby Tank B women baptizers |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Writers starting with Tertullian and the author behind the Didascalia Apostolorum attest to the presence of early Christian women baptizers, as do a variety of later writers. The early Christian tradition of Holy Spirit as female and mother, her womb the font of new birth (Jn 3.3-5), helps illuminate why women may have been seen as the midwives, or ministers, of this birthing ritual. Likewise, the identification of the font as a womb adds to Jocelyn Toynbee’s 1964 proposal that a scene on the Walesby Tank, a fourth-century Romano-British baptismal font, portrayed two clothed women assisting a nude female neophyte at her baptism. |
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| ISSN: | 1745-5189 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Feminist theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/09667350221135461 |