The Manly Eunuch: Masculinity, Gender Ambiguity, and Christian Ideology in Late Antiquity

by Mathew Kuefler

The question of masculinity formed a key part of the intellectual life of late antiquity and was crucial to the development of Christian society. This idea is at the heart of Mathew Kuefler's new book, which revisits the Roman Empire during the third and fifth centuries of the common era. Kuefler argues that the collapse of the Roman army, an increasingly autocratic government, and growing restrictions on the traditional rights of men within marriage and sexuality all led to an endemic crisis in men of Roman aristocracy, who had always felt themselves to be soldiers, statesmen, and the heads of households, became, by their own definition, unmanly.

The cultural and demographic success of Christianity during this epoch lay in the ability of its leaders to recognize and respond to this crisis. Drawing on the tradition of gender ambiguity in early Christian teachings, which included Jesus's exhortation that his followers "make themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven," Christian writers and thinkers crafted a new masculine ideal, one that took advantage of the changing social realities in Rome, inverted the Roman model of manliness, and helped solidify Christian ideology by reinstating the masculinity of its adherents.

Genres: Nonfiction, Queer, Gender and Sexuality, History, Gender, Classical Studies

408 pages, Hardcover

First published July 25, 2001

Reviews

[Amy Hughes]

This is an excellent read. Kuefler's careful study and elucidation of the construction of the Christian masculine ideal in the West is clear, thorough and incredibly fascinating. it's important for those of the feminist persuasion (and others of course) to engage with material on the construction of gendered identity on this level to recognize cultural situatedness and the utility of such constructions. Kuefler articulates well the narrative, what it bought early Christians and what was at stake. The discussions of how constructions of femininity operated on those of masculinity and vice versa help round out the portrait of early Christian anxieties about gender that leave the reader with the important take-aways of nuance, complexity and how theology, biblical interpretation and cultural borrowings function to direct the course of an entire movement.

Well worth the read even this is not one's specific time period. My only disappointment is in response to the enticements that Kuefler injected about the significant differences in the East's construction and experience of the gender crisis (as in there didn't seem to be one, at least, not like the West)...I was hooked by them and wanted more. This, of course, is no slight but a recommendation to how well Kuefler articulated (with some qualifications) the distinctive trajectories of East and West.

[Katie]

Well-written, interesting argument, and entertaining anecdotes. Not nearly as complicated as the title would lead one to believe.