Ehe als Sanatorium Plutarchs

Author: Becker, Matthias

Source: Novum Testamentum, Volume 52, Number 3, 2010 , pp. 241-266(26)

Publisher: BRILL

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Abstract:

This study examines the relevance of Plutarch's Conjugal Precepts for the interpretation of the Pastoral Epistles' view on marriage with special regard to 1 Tim 2:9-15. By comparing the two texts the author concludes that not only do they share a conservative marriage-ethos, which can be detected in their approval of female subordination, but they more importantly share the belief that marriage acts as a kind of sanatorium within which the wife is made free from her so-called vitium feminae. According to Plutarch, marriage helps women to be freed from a lack of logos that supposedly characterizes their nature. In the Pastoral Epistles the healing function of marriage is directed toward the Satanic deception that every woman supposedly suffers from as a result of Eve's transgression. Through marriage the vitium feminae is transformed into the salus uxoris.

Keywords: Plutarch; Conjugal Precepts; marriage; subordination; 1 Tim 2:9-15

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156853610X511666

Affiliations: 1: Heidelberg

Publication date: 2010-06-01