Description
Explores Christian attitudes about the naked female body from the fourth century to the present, examining the powerful influence of the Adam and Eve story, important works of art and literature, and male perspectives on the female body since early Christian times
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Looking at textual and artistic descriptions and religious practices from the beginning of organized Christianity until the 17th c., Miles (Harvard Divinity School) traces attitudes toward female nakedness as reflected in the art and literature of the times. She finds that nakedness for both men and women was originally associated with purity and spiritual rebirth, but that it gradually became gendered and, for women, a negative quality as Christianity's stake in maintaining a patriarchal society grew. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
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