‘The barbarians themselves are offended by our vices’: Slavery, sexual vice and shame in Salvian of Marseilles’ De gubernatione Dei

‘The barbarians themselves are offended by our vices’: Slavery, sexual vice and shame in Salvian of Marseilles’ De gubernatione Dei

The purpose of this article is to examine Salvian of Marseilles’ (ca. 400–490 CE) invective in De gubernatione Dei against his Christian audience pertaining to their sexual roles and behaviour as slaveholders. It is argued that rather than considering the oppressive practice of slavery in itself as...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chris L. de Wet
Format: Article
Language:Afrikaans
Published: AOSIS 2019-04-01
Series:HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies
Subjects:
Theology
Religious Studies
Church History
Early Christian Studies
Latin
Online Access:https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5302
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spelling doaj-e6e32a58c56342b9a5e5b5ede528373e2020-11-25T02:50:07ZafrAOSISHTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 0259-94222072-80502019-04-01753e1e810.4102/hts.v75i3.53024316‘The barbarians themselves are offended by our vices’: Slavery, sexual vice and shame in Salvian of Marseilles’ De gubernatione DeiChris L. de Wet0New Testament and Early Christian Studies, Department of Biblical and Ancient Studies, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa; and, Australian Lutheran College, University of Divinity, AdelaideThe purpose of this article is to examine Salvian of Marseilles’ (ca. 400–490 CE) invective in De gubernatione Dei against his Christian audience pertaining to their sexual roles and behaviour as slaveholders. It is argued that rather than considering the oppressive practice of slavery in itself as a reason for moral rebuke and divine punishment, Salvian highlights the social shame that arose from the sexual vices Christian slaveholders committed with their slaves. Salvian forwards three accusations against his opponents that concern slavery and sexual vice. Firstly, he asserts that Christian slaveholders have no self-control. Secondly, the polyamorous relationships slaveholders have with numerous slaves resemble shameful and adulterous unions, namely concubinage and even polygamy. Thirdly, Roman-Christian slaveholders behave in a worse manner than barbarians (i.e. the argument of ethnicity). Each of these accusations is examined in detail in the study.https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5302TheologyReligious StudiesChurch HistoryEarly Christian StudiesLatin
collection DOAJ
language Afrikaans
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Chris L. de Wet
spellingShingle Chris L. de Wet
‘The barbarians themselves are offended by our vices’: Slavery, sexual vice and shame in Salvian of Marseilles’ De gubernatione Dei
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies
Theology
Religious Studies
Church History
Early Christian Studies
Latin
author_facet Chris L. de Wet
author_sort Chris L. de Wet
title ‘The barbarians themselves are offended by our vices’: Slavery, sexual vice and shame in Salvian of Marseilles’ De gubernatione Dei
title_short ‘The barbarians themselves are offended by our vices’: Slavery, sexual vice and shame in Salvian of Marseilles’ De gubernatione Dei
title_full ‘The barbarians themselves are offended by our vices’: Slavery, sexual vice and shame in Salvian of Marseilles’ De gubernatione Dei
title_fullStr ‘The barbarians themselves are offended by our vices’: Slavery, sexual vice and shame in Salvian of Marseilles’ De gubernatione Dei
title_full_unstemmed ‘The barbarians themselves are offended by our vices’: Slavery, sexual vice and shame in Salvian of Marseilles’ De gubernatione Dei
title_sort ‘the barbarians themselves are offended by our vices’: slavery, sexual vice and shame in salvian of marseilles’ de gubernatione dei
publisher AOSIS
series HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies
issn 0259-9422
2072-8050
publishDate 2019-04-01
description The purpose of this article is to examine Salvian of Marseilles’ (ca. 400–490 CE) invective in De gubernatione Dei against his Christian audience pertaining to their sexual roles and behaviour as slaveholders. It is argued that rather than considering the oppressive practice of slavery in itself as a reason for moral rebuke and divine punishment, Salvian highlights the social shame that arose from the sexual vices Christian slaveholders committed with their slaves. Salvian forwards three accusations against his opponents that concern slavery and sexual vice. Firstly, he asserts that Christian slaveholders have no self-control. Secondly, the polyamorous relationships slaveholders have with numerous slaves resemble shameful and adulterous unions, namely concubinage and even polygamy. Thirdly, Roman-Christian slaveholders behave in a worse manner than barbarians (i.e. the argument of ethnicity). Each of these accusations is examined in detail in the study.
topic Theology
Religious Studies
Church History
Early Christian Studies
Latin
url https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/5302
work_keys_str_mv AT chrisldewet thebarbariansthemselvesareoffendedbyourvicesslaverysexualviceandshameinsalvianofmarseillesdegubernationedei
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