Women are conspicuously absent from most church history books. Yet women made up at least half of early Christian congregations. This course looks at the women who have been hiding in plain sight in texts and archaeological evidence of the first five hundred years of the expansion of Christianity across the Mediterranean world and beyond. Who were their role models in Scripture? What avenues were open for them to use their gifts to serve their communities? Did Christianity mean conformity or revolution regarding agency and social norms? Were there women priests? How did views of female embodiment affect their experience as wives, mothers, virgins, and widows? What can archaeology, inscriptions and papyri reveal about their daily lives?
Each week, the class will combine lecture and seminar styles of learning. About half the time will be used to provide important historical and cultural background for understanding the assigned texts and an overview of significant women representative of that topic. The other half will be a seminar discussion of primary sources about one or more of these women, such as Perpetua, Amma Sarah, Macrina, Proba, Egeria, Paula, Eustochium, Galla Placidia and Theodora.
Note: The related course "Soul Sisters 1: Women in the Bible" is not required to enrol in this course, although students may find the two courses complement each other well.