Gender and unruly titles in the booklists of the Gelasian Decree

This essay offers a new perspective on the booklists of the Gelasian Decree (Decretum Gelasianium) from the sixth century. In this document’s apocryphal booklist, there are several titles featuring female or feminine names that exhibit a certain unruliness. Whether known only by title or by many tit...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Solevåg, Anna Rebecca (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2023
In: Journal for the study of the pseudepigrapha
Year: 2023, Volume: 32, Issue: 4, Pages: 342-355
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Decretum Gelasianum / List / History 500-600 / Woman / Heresy / Apocrypha / Man / God / Church / Canon
IxTheo Classification:BH Judaism
HA Bible
Further subjects:B canonicity
B Gelasian Decree
B books known only by title
B Decretum Gelasianum
B Apocrypha
B Gender
B booklists
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Description
Summary:This essay offers a new perspective on the booklists of the Gelasian Decree (Decretum Gelasianium) from the sixth century. In this document’s apocryphal booklist, there are several titles featuring female or feminine names that exhibit a certain unruliness. Whether known only by title or by many titles, these entries pose the question of why female figures and texts not usually associated with heresy are constructed under this rubric in the Gelasian Decree. By untangling the lists from the academic discourse on canon and rather understanding them in the context of the document as a whole, the essay offers a fresh reading of the relations between gender, apocryphal books, and church hierarchy. Through an analysis of the occurrences of female/feminine names and signifiers throughout the text, it is found that while male figures are associated with God, the church hierarchy, and canonical and legitimate literature, the categories of apocrypha and heresy are feminized. It is argued that the “unruly” book titles in the Gelasian Degree ultimately resist the organizing efforts of its author.
ISSN:1745-5286
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the pseudepigrapha
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/09518207221141371