utopische psychedelicatessen {Lucy in the Sky with
diamonds
In
die daarop
volgende eeuwen werd
het helemaal 'n
dolle boel!
Yehosjoea
kan ik nog wel enigszins plaatsen
dankzij {& ondanks} wat men allemaal
over hem vertelde &
opschreef?
Maar wat ze daarna
allemaal met hem uithaalden tot vlak voor
en vooral ook al die eeuwen na 't neerslaan van de Joodse Opstand tot 70/73
lijkt steeds gekker te worden door
'al die heidense invloeden'
van her en der?!
Danny
Boyarin vaart
voort op
ZIJN
typische manier van beschrijven
van wat er in de daaropvolgende eeuwen
allemaal plaatsvond rondom
de Middellandse
Zee
~~~
...
The sequel
to the story of Thecla in Ambrose
forms a remarkable parallel to the talmudic story that we have been reading
and will help sharpen those points
dramatically.
Attention
deserves to be called to these texts
and their significance as a parallel to the talmudic story & suggests the direction
of interpretation of it as a cross-gendering narrative that we try to expose & that will be much more
fully developed in our work on this
in years to come?
The relevance
has been pointed out already
of the talmudic Rabbi Me'ir story for the Ambrose text,
and had pointed to several other Christian and at least one non-Christian Roman version {Seneca}
of the tale type. Chastity as Autonomy, revealingly {in Seneca's story}, the virgin preserves her chastity by killing a man with his own sword, which is quite different
from both our Jewish and Christian female and male
tricksters, for all their
internal differences,
as well!
It is so
close to the talmudic narrative
that it must slearly count as a variant of the same folktale type,
but, the differences between the two culturally localized versions {ecotypes} are as instructive as the similarities. Since the text is rather long, we can paraphrase it,
quoting only excerpts.
Ambrose tells
of a virgin in Antioch
who avoided being seen in public and who,
knowing of the sesire of many men for her, declared herself a perpetual virgin,
whereupon "she was no longer loved,
instead she was betrayed."
The virgin,
insisting on her chastity
and not afraid of death, prepares herself for ir.
However, her persecutors have a more nefarious plan!
They will allow her neither the crown of martyrdom nor virginity.
After she refuses to sacrifice to the emperor, they send her, like Rabbi Hanina's daughter,
to a brothel:
At this the young woman,
not in doubt about her religion but fearing for her chastity, said to herself:
"What shall I do? Today I shall be either a martyr or a virgin. One of the two crowns is begrudged us.
But the title of virginity has no meaning where the author of virginity
is denied!"
Virginity itself is worthless unless it is virginity of G d.
She will not sacrifice in order to preserve her chastity, any more than she would to preserve her life.
Rather than risking giving up her religion, she chooses to enter the brothel, assuming that,
like Rahab, she will be forgiven for this.
Ambrose continues:
All at once my discourse is ashamed
and fears, as it were, to enter upon and relate the wicked course of events?
Stop your ears, virgins of G d: a young woman of G d is being led to a brothel!
But open your ears, virgins of G d: a virgin can be made to prostitute herself but she cannot be made
to commit adultery. Wherever a virgin of G d is, there is a temple of G d.
Brothels not only do not bring chastity into disrepute,
but chastity even does away with the disrepute
of a place!
A huge crowd of curiosity seekers surged towards the bordello.
[Learn the miracles of the martyrs, holy virgings, but unlearn the vocabulary of these places!]
The dove was shut up inside, while outside the hawks were loud, contending among themselves
as to who would be the first
to seize the prey.
In an echo of the lions,
who were metaphorical representations of male sexual desire in the Thecla sequence,
here we find the desiring male represented as a raptor. The virgin prays, invoking the miracle that saved
Daniel from the lion's den, and indeed, G d vouchsafes her a miracle
in the form of a trickster:
She had hardly completed the prayer when all of a sudden a man with the appearance of a fearsome solder burst in. How the virgin trembled before him ...
"A sheep too may lie hidden an this lair of wolves. Christ, who even has his legions {Mat 26:53},
has his soldiers as well. Or perhaps the executioner has come in. [That is, someone who will kill her, and not take her chastity!] Do not be afraid, my soul: he is used to making martyrs!"
O Virgin, "your faith has saved you" [Luke 8:48]
The virgin here considers the possibility that the fierce soldier who has come in is not a lustful customer,
but her potential executioner. Perhaps she will be saved by her faith, granted the two crowns of virginity
and martyrdom after all. But not quite, for:
the soldier said to her:
"I beg you not to fear, my sister!
I have come here as your brother to save my soul, not to destroy it.
Heed me, so that you may be spared. Having come in as an adulterer, I shall, if you wish, go out a martyr. Let us exchange our clothing: yours fits me and mine fits you, but both fit Christ.
Your garb will make me a true soldier; mine will make you a virgin.
You will be clothed well and I shall be stripped better, so that the persecutot may recognize me.
Put on the garment that will hide the women and hand over the one that will consecrate the martyr!"
...
While saying this he removed his cloak, which was a garment that until this time was suspected of being that of a persecutor and an adulteror.
...
When she had changed her clothing the maiden flew out from the snare,
but no longer with her own wings, inasmuch as she was borne by spiritual wings.
And ~ what had never been seen before ~ she left the brothel a virgin,
but Christ's.
Ambrose's rhetoric here is very deft.
The virgin in the brothel, so far from being a sight that the ages never had seen, is practically a topos in this type of literature, bur Ambrose {with a wink and a nudge} informs us that this was a sight that never had been seen before.
One wonders at the Ambrose
who is so sophisticated a folklorist that he can refer to the parallel tale of the virgin turned into a hind
{in the next paragraph}, not being aware that here also he is dealing with a virtual tale type.
His insistence on the uniqueness of this event could be seen, therefore,
as a bit of highly effective rhetorical flourish! Alternatively,
it could be seen as a very part
of the topos itself!
Anyway,
the blind and rapacious audience cannot see
the thauma edestai that there is before their eyes: an intact virgin leaving the brothel:
Those, however, who were looking with their eyes but did not see {Mat 13:13!}, were like wolves over-powering a lamb, raging at their prey. One who was less modest went in. But when with his eyes he had grasped the situation he said: "What is this? A maiden went in but a man is here. This is not that famous story of the hind substituted for the virgin.
This tale type/turn suggests that this is an allusion to the story of Iphigenia. She, however, was translated
into a goat, not a hind, so I think rather that we have here a very ancient form of a folk tale otherwise attested only in much later sources. Another theme between Christian and Jewish legends in this period is the topos of the robber or the prostitute reformed! For the Christian texts see Harlots of the Desert,
Virgins of G d & The Desert a City & for Jewish parallels Daniel Boyarin's "Homotopia"!
"Rather it is a case of a maiden transformed into a soldier.
I had heard and did not believe that Christ changed water into wine {John 2:1-10!}, but now he has begun
to change sexes as well! Let us get out of here while we still are what we were!
Have I myself, who see somehting alse than I can believe, been changed too?
I came to a brothel, I see a pledge!
The 'pledge' vadimonium refers to the fact that a s the following paragraph explains, the soldier is a bondsman or guarantee for the virgin. The man in whose mouth these words have been placed has inex-plicably grasped [suddenly] the situation.
And yet I shall depart changed, I shall go out chaste ~ I who came in unchaste!"
Hoe dan ook:
het blijft [zoals altijd eigenlijk het geval is
met ALLE letterlijke/figuurlijk menselijke mydiverhalen!] een mengsel van facts & fictions:
ons brein mengt alles wat we ervaren. weten, vermoeden, willen zeggen, ontdekken & duiden in 'n heel eigen typisch woordsoepje dat uit onze mond {& vingers} komt zoals het via ogen & oren naar binnen is gegaan [lang geleden] ~ ons lichaam produceert via onze geest {of "Geest"} iets nieuws, wat anders,
en zo blijven we onszelf en elk anders steeds weer opnieuw ontdekken & 'uitvinden'
als het go{e}d is ~ 't woord is vleesgeworden & woont binnenin
en rondom ons ~ al levend beelden we uit wat er
'aan de gang is' in onze versie van 't
'hemels g dsrijk'.
Of niet.
In
die daarop
volgende eeuwen werd
het helemaal 'n
dolle boel!
Yehosjoea
kan ik nog wel enigszins plaatsen
dankzij {& ondanks} wat men allemaal
over hem vertelde &
opschreef?
Maar wat ze daarna
allemaal met hem uithaalden tot vlak voor
en vooral ook al die eeuwen na 't neerslaan van de Joodse Opstand tot 70/73
lijkt steeds gekker te worden door
'al die heidense invloeden'
van her en der?!
Danny
Boyarin vaart
voort op
ZIJN
typische manier van beschrijven
van wat er in de daaropvolgende eeuwen
allemaal plaatsvond rondom
de Middellandse
Zee
~~~
...
The sequel
to the story of Thecla in Ambrose
forms a remarkable parallel to the talmudic story that we have been reading
and will help sharpen those points
dramatically.
Attention
deserves to be called to these texts
and their significance as a parallel to the talmudic story & suggests the direction
of interpretation of it as a cross-gendering narrative that we try to expose & that will be much more
fully developed in our work on this
in years to come?
The relevance
has been pointed out already
of the talmudic Rabbi Me'ir story for the Ambrose text,
and had pointed to several other Christian and at least one non-Christian Roman version {Seneca}
of the tale type. Chastity as Autonomy, revealingly {in Seneca's story}, the virgin preserves her chastity by killing a man with his own sword, which is quite different
from both our Jewish and Christian female and male
tricksters, for all their
internal differences,
as well!
It is so
close to the talmudic narrative
that it must slearly count as a variant of the same folktale type,
but, the differences between the two culturally localized versions {ecotypes} are as instructive as the similarities. Since the text is rather long, we can paraphrase it,
quoting only excerpts.
Ambrose tells
of a virgin in Antioch
who avoided being seen in public and who,
knowing of the sesire of many men for her, declared herself a perpetual virgin,
whereupon "she was no longer loved,
instead she was betrayed."
The virgin,
insisting on her chastity
and not afraid of death, prepares herself for ir.
However, her persecutors have a more nefarious plan!
They will allow her neither the crown of martyrdom nor virginity.
After she refuses to sacrifice to the emperor, they send her, like Rabbi Hanina's daughter,
to a brothel:
At this the young woman,
not in doubt about her religion but fearing for her chastity, said to herself:
"What shall I do? Today I shall be either a martyr or a virgin. One of the two crowns is begrudged us.
But the title of virginity has no meaning where the author of virginity
is denied!"
Virginity itself is worthless unless it is virginity of G d.
She will not sacrifice in order to preserve her chastity, any more than she would to preserve her life.
Rather than risking giving up her religion, she chooses to enter the brothel, assuming that,
like Rahab, she will be forgiven for this.
Ambrose continues:
All at once my discourse is ashamed
and fears, as it were, to enter upon and relate the wicked course of events?
Stop your ears, virgins of G d: a young woman of G d is being led to a brothel!
But open your ears, virgins of G d: a virgin can be made to prostitute herself but she cannot be made
to commit adultery. Wherever a virgin of G d is, there is a temple of G d.
Brothels not only do not bring chastity into disrepute,
but chastity even does away with the disrepute
of a place!
A huge crowd of curiosity seekers surged towards the bordello.
[Learn the miracles of the martyrs, holy virgings, but unlearn the vocabulary of these places!]
The dove was shut up inside, while outside the hawks were loud, contending among themselves
as to who would be the first
to seize the prey.
In an echo of the lions,
who were metaphorical representations of male sexual desire in the Thecla sequence,
here we find the desiring male represented as a raptor. The virgin prays, invoking the miracle that saved
Daniel from the lion's den, and indeed, G d vouchsafes her a miracle
in the form of a trickster:
She had hardly completed the prayer when all of a sudden a man with the appearance of a fearsome solder burst in. How the virgin trembled before him ...
"A sheep too may lie hidden an this lair of wolves. Christ, who even has his legions {Mat 26:53},
has his soldiers as well. Or perhaps the executioner has come in. [That is, someone who will kill her, and not take her chastity!] Do not be afraid, my soul: he is used to making martyrs!"
O Virgin, "your faith has saved you" [Luke 8:48]
The virgin here considers the possibility that the fierce soldier who has come in is not a lustful customer,
but her potential executioner. Perhaps she will be saved by her faith, granted the two crowns of virginity
and martyrdom after all. But not quite, for:
the soldier said to her:
"I beg you not to fear, my sister!
I have come here as your brother to save my soul, not to destroy it.
Heed me, so that you may be spared. Having come in as an adulterer, I shall, if you wish, go out a martyr. Let us exchange our clothing: yours fits me and mine fits you, but both fit Christ.
Your garb will make me a true soldier; mine will make you a virgin.
You will be clothed well and I shall be stripped better, so that the persecutot may recognize me.
Put on the garment that will hide the women and hand over the one that will consecrate the martyr!"
...
While saying this he removed his cloak, which was a garment that until this time was suspected of being that of a persecutor and an adulteror.
...
When she had changed her clothing the maiden flew out from the snare,
but no longer with her own wings, inasmuch as she was borne by spiritual wings.
And ~ what had never been seen before ~ she left the brothel a virgin,
but Christ's.
Ambrose's rhetoric here is very deft.
The virgin in the brothel, so far from being a sight that the ages never had seen, is practically a topos in this type of literature, bur Ambrose {with a wink and a nudge} informs us that this was a sight that never had been seen before.
One wonders at the Ambrose
who is so sophisticated a folklorist that he can refer to the parallel tale of the virgin turned into a hind
{in the next paragraph}, not being aware that here also he is dealing with a virtual tale type.
His insistence on the uniqueness of this event could be seen, therefore,
as a bit of highly effective rhetorical flourish! Alternatively,
it could be seen as a very part
of the topos itself!
Anyway,
the blind and rapacious audience cannot see
the thauma edestai that there is before their eyes: an intact virgin leaving the brothel:
Those, however, who were looking with their eyes but did not see {Mat 13:13!}, were like wolves over-powering a lamb, raging at their prey. One who was less modest went in. But when with his eyes he had grasped the situation he said: "What is this? A maiden went in but a man is here. This is not that famous story of the hind substituted for the virgin.
This tale type/turn suggests that this is an allusion to the story of Iphigenia. She, however, was translated
into a goat, not a hind, so I think rather that we have here a very ancient form of a folk tale otherwise attested only in much later sources. Another theme between Christian and Jewish legends in this period is the topos of the robber or the prostitute reformed! For the Christian texts see Harlots of the Desert,
Virgins of G d & The Desert a City & for Jewish parallels Daniel Boyarin's "Homotopia"!
"Rather it is a case of a maiden transformed into a soldier.
I had heard and did not believe that Christ changed water into wine {John 2:1-10!}, but now he has begun
to change sexes as well! Let us get out of here while we still are what we were!
Have I myself, who see somehting alse than I can believe, been changed too?
I came to a brothel, I see a pledge!
The 'pledge' vadimonium refers to the fact that a s the following paragraph explains, the soldier is a bondsman or guarantee for the virgin. The man in whose mouth these words have been placed has inex-plicably grasped [suddenly] the situation.
And yet I shall depart changed, I shall go out chaste ~ I who came in unchaste!"
Hoe dan ook:
het blijft [zoals altijd eigenlijk het geval is
met ALLE letterlijke/figuurlijk menselijke mydiverhalen!] een mengsel van facts & fictions:
ons brein mengt alles wat we ervaren. weten, vermoeden, willen zeggen, ontdekken & duiden in 'n heel eigen typisch woordsoepje dat uit onze mond {& vingers} komt zoals het via ogen & oren naar binnen is gegaan [lang geleden] ~ ons lichaam produceert via onze geest {of "Geest"} iets nieuws, wat anders,
en zo blijven we onszelf en elk anders steeds weer opnieuw ontdekken & 'uitvinden'
als het go{e}d is ~ 't woord is vleesgeworden & woont binnenin
en rondom ons ~ al levend beelden we uit wat er
'aan de gang is' in onze versie van 't
'hemels g dsrijk'.
Of niet.
13 nov 2008 - bewerkt op 13 nov 2008
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