RT Article
T1 Menstruation and Menstrual Purity in the Apostolic Constitutions
JF Louvain studies
VO 46
IS 4
SP 320
OP 343
A1 Whitear, Sarah
LA English
YR 2023
UL https://ixtheo.de/Record/1926663756
AB The Apostolic Constitutions is a fourth-century text comprising material taken from other early Christian documents, including the Didascalia. The existing sources are reworked by the compiler who, in doing so, creates a new unique document. Whilst the Apostolic Constitutions clearly utilises the Didascalia for its discussion of ritual purity, the way that the compiler uses, and more significantly differs from its source has not been examined sufficiently. This paper will outline the ways in which the Apostolic Constitutions uses the Didascalia in relation to its comments on menstruation and menstrual impurity. I will demonstrate that although the Didascalia is clearly the frame for the discussion of menstruation, the Apostolic Constitutions departs quite significantly from its source. Whereas the Didascalia polemicises against Christians following menstrual purity practices associated with Judaism, this is much less prominent in the Apostolic Constitutions. By contrast, in the later text, the emphasis is on affirming the goodness of sexuality on the one hand and on the other hand affirming the laws of the Pentateuch.
DO 10.2143/LS.46.4.3294213