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Ritual Kissing, Heresy and the Emergence of Early Christian Orthodoxy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2003

MICHAEL PENN
MICHAEL PENN
Affiliation:
Department of Religion, Mount Holyoake College, 50 College Street, South Hadley, MA 01075. USA; mpenn@MtHolyoke.edu
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Abstract

Amidst the theological controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries, the ritual kiss often played an important role in trying to distinguish orthodox from heretical Christians. For early Christian leaders such as Rufinus, Jerome, Augustine and Paulinus of Nola, the kiss became a means to malign an opponent while simultaneously reinforcing one's own claims to theological legitimacy. The kiss's connection to a wide range of symbolic systems made it a particularly versatile tool for early Christian polemics.

Keywords

LCL=Loeb Classical LibraryMiAg.=Miscellanea AugustinianaNHS=Nag Hammadi StudiesPO=Patrologia OrientalisSC=Sources ChrétiennesTU=Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 54 , Issue 4 , October 2003 , pp. 625 - 640
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

A special thanks to Ed Phillips and two anonymous JEH readers whose comments significantly improved this article. I have also greatly benefited from the insights of Elizabeth Clark, Bart Ehrman, Dale Martin, Jean Fox OBarr and Orval Wintermute who read earlier versions of this work. Finally, I am especially indebted to Bernadette Brooten and the Brandeis University Near Eastern and Judaic Studies Department for awarding me a Kraft-Hiatt Postdoctoral Fellowship which helped to make revisions to the article possible.