Parents and Children in Ambrose's Virginity Treatises: Destined for Virginity or a Free Choice
The topic of this article is the development of the relationship between the factors of free choice, parental influence, and God’s election with regard to perpetual virginity in Ambrose’s four virginity treatises: De Virginibus (Virg.), De Virginitate (Virgt.), De Institutione Virginis (Inst.) and E...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2025
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| In: |
Augustiniana
Year: 2025, Volume: 75, Issue: 1, Pages: 1-43 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The topic of this article is the development of the relationship between the factors of free choice, parental influence, and God’s election with regard to perpetual virginity in Ambrose’s four virginity treatises: De Virginibus (Virg.), De Virginitate (Virgt.), De Institutione Virginis (Inst.) and Exhortatio Virginitatis (Exh.). While in Virg. the virgin’s free choice prevails, parental influence is predominant in the subsequent three treatises. With regard to the female virgin martyrs in Virg., who are generally associated with Ambrose’s view on virginity, the influence of Eusebius of Emesa is taken into consideration. In the two early virginity treatises (Virg., Virgt.), the parental influence testifies sometimes to a positive attitude towards Ambrose’s virginal ambition, but at other times to opposition. The protagonists of the last two treatises are parents dedicating their children to virginity. Here, Ambrose is actively involved. In Inst. bishop Ambrose becomes the spiritual father of Ambrosia by consecrating her. In Exh. Ambrose’s views are voiced by the widow Juliana. God’s election of the virgin is present in every virginity treatise, but nowhere so much as in Juliana’s discourse on Levitehood in Exh. I will argue that Juliana’s application of Levitehood to virginity raises female and male virgins to the same status as deacons. |
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| ISSN: | 2295-6093 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Augustiniana
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2143/AUG.75.1.3294278 |
