Dying to Be Men

Gender and Language in Early Christian Martyr Texts

L. Stephanie Cobb

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9780231518208
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

At once brave and athletic, virtuous and modest, female martyrs in the second and third centuries were depicted as self-possessed gladiators who at the same time exhibited the quintessentially "womanly" qualities of modesty, fertility, and beauty. L. Stephanie Cobb explores the double embodiment of "male" and "female" gender ideals in these figures, connecting them to Greco-Roman virtues and the construction of Christian group identities.

Both male and female martyrs conducted their battles in the amphitheater, a masculine environment that enabled the divine combatants to showcase their strength, virility, and volition. These Christian martyr accounts also illustrated masculinity through the language of justice, resistance to persuasion, and-more subtly but most effectively-the juxtaposition of "unmanly" individuals (usually slaves, the old, or the young) with those at the height of male maturity and accomplishment (such as the governor or the proconsul).

Imbuing female martyrs with the same strengths as their male counterparts served a vital function in Christian communities. Faced with the possibility of persecution, Christians sought to inspire both men and women to be braver than pagan and Jewish men. Yet within the community itself, traditional gender roles had to be maintained, and despite the call to be manly, Christian women were expected to remain womanly in relation to the men of their faith. Complicating our understanding of the social freedoms enjoyed by early Christian women, Cobb's investigation reveals the dual function of gendered language in martyr texts and its importance in laying claim to social power.

1

What Is a Christian?

CONSTRUCTING A CHRISTIAN IDENTITY

We are what we are because they are not what we are.

—HENRI TAJFEL

In the 1960s and 1970s social psychologists began generating new hypotheses about the relationship between identity and group formation.¹ In particular, these theorists focused on group categorization and its effect on cognitive biases (e.g., bias in favor of one’s in-group). In his work on racism and discrimination, for example, Henri Tajfel sought to determine the minimal requirements necessary for discrimination in favor of an in-group and against an out-group.² His experiments showed that discrimination is related to categorization: individuals categorize objects and people in order to make the world meaningful, but the very act of categorizing involves discrimination. Tajfel’s work served as a corrective to an overemphasis on personal identity by insisting that social identity was equally important. He defined social identity as “the individual’s knowledge that he/ she belongs to certain groups together with some emotional and value significance to him/her of the group membership.”³ Thus, social identity theory highlights the process of group formation and its effect on an individual’s behavior.

This social psychology approach to group formation was more fully formulated in the 1970s in the work of John Turner and others.⁴ An important development in social identity theory at this time was Turner’s hypothesis of self-categorization. Building on Tajfel’s studies, Turner argued that people are capable of categorizing themselves in the same ways they categorize others: as we organize the world into manageable groups, we assign ourselves to certain ones. Through a process of comparison, individuals who are similar to the self become the in-group, while individuals who are different are assigned to various out-groups.

Social identity theory suggests that the formation of identity may be motivated by the desire to make the world meaningful, to reduce uncertainty, and, most important, to establish and affirm the self’s role in society.⁵ Identity, therefore, is produced in the service of self-esteem: one’s in-group is always perceived as superior to other groups, thus group membership enhances the individual’s self-esteem. Humans categorize the world, identify with particular categories, and favorably judge their groups in order to feel better about themselves. Each of these processes—categorization, identification, and comparison—plays an equally important role in the formation of identity.

Applying social identity theory to the martyr acts demonstrates the role that the written records of the martyrs played in the process of categorization and identity making. Rather than concentrating solely on the psychology of individual Christians mentioned in the texts, social identity theory requires that we examine how and why individuals define themselves (or in this case, how authors define their characters) as part of a group and how group membership influences and explains intergroup encounters.

CONSTRUCTING SOCIAL IDENTITY

Categorization

In the Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas, the editor narrates Perpetua’s insistence that she can go by no name other than “Christian.”⁶ In this instance Perpetua is described as an interchangeable group member; she has no individuating characteristics but instead locates her identity within a larger social group. When she prays for her brother Dinocrates, however, the editor highlights Perpetua’s individuality.⁷ In this case, the text’s heroine is differentiated from a social group and is described as an individual responding to a specific personal relationship. These two examples of differing identity—social versus personal—can be explained by the foundational tenet in social identity theory: we know who we are by comparing ourselves to others. In Tajfel’s words, “we are what we are because they are not what we are.”⁸ Identity, in other words, is formulated not independently but comparatively. Categorization, however, does not result in fixed identities. Indeed, one of the most important aspects of social identity theory is its assertion that identities are fluid and form in response to specific occurrences or interactions.

A person’s identity, moreover, is comprised of both personal and social aspects. Sometimes we understand ourselves in terms of group membership but other times in terms of our uniqueness. Thus in different circumstances we identify ourselves as more or less a group member: the saliency of one’s personal identity (“me” versus “not me”) or social identity (“us” versus “them”) is situationally determined.⁹

Identification

When Papylus was hung up and scraped and withstood six men torturing him, he made no sound but endured the ordeal as a noble athlete.¹⁰ His reaction to torture was so courageous that the proconsul wondered about his extraordinary capacity for endurance. The martyr acts suggest that torture and death provided opportunities to demonstrate one’s Christian identity. Indeed, in the martyrologies one’s reaction to torture often points to one’s social group. Dominic Abrams and Michael A. Hogg describe the process of an individual’s identification with a particular group as follows: “First, people categorize and define themselves as members of a distinct social category or assign themselves a social identity; second, they form or learn the stereotypic norms of that category; and third, they assign these norms to themselves and thus their behavior becomes more normative as their category membership becomes salient.”¹¹

The process of self-categorization outlined by Abrams and Hogg can be seen in the early Christian martyr accounts. While conversion and catechism (which I see as the equivalent of phases one and two in Abrams and Hogg’s description) are typically not narrated, they are certainly presupposed.¹² The final phase of self-categorization—conforming to prescribed standards of group behavior—is the focal point of the martyrologies. As individuals face torture and persecution, their actions conform to the principal attributes of Christian identity, namely, courage, strength, reason, and justice. Since these traits were those most closely associated with masculinity in antiquity, in the texts under consideration here, it appears that to be a Christian was to be a man.

The effect of self-categorization is seen most clearly in its explanation of social influence. When personal identity is salient, the individual interacts with others on an interpersonal level. When social identity is salient, however, a person ceases to identify as a unique individual. This process, referred to as “depersonalization,” results in the activation of one’s social identity.¹³ No longer is the self seen as unique; rather, the person identifies as an interchangeable member of a group, as the embodiment of group norms. When a member regulates his behavior to conform to the group’s standards, he reaffirms his membership in the group.

Comparison

The repeated claims to Christian masculinity in the martyrologies stem from the third aspect of the construction of social identity: comparison. As individuals categorize the world, they identify with certain groups, which they then judge more favorably than others. Favorable group comparison is accomplished by viewing one’s own group as superior to similar groups. In this case, social identity is salient and individuals achieve positive self-esteem simply by identifying with the group.

Group comparisons, however, require a shared understanding of the kinds of power and resources that are desirable. Thus, a group is labeled “better” or “worse,” “acceptable” or “unacceptable,” “us” or “them” by attaining or forfeiting a specific commodity. Accordingly, the symbols and values employed by groups in competition are not idiosyncratic. Groups and their members compete for resources or powers that are valued by the culture at large. Hence Abrams and Hogg note that “many, if not most significant social identities reflect moral traditions and practices which extend beyond particular communities; they are properties and products of cultures.”¹⁴ Intergroup competition typically results in value judgments being placed on individuals or social groups based on the possession of specific resources.

In the ancient world masculinity was a particularly valued commodity. Marcus Aurelius explains that the life of reason is comprised of justice

, truth

, self-control

, and manliness

.¹⁵ if, as I argue, masculinity is a primary attribute of Christian identities in the martyrologies, we should expect to find evidence of competition over this socially agreed-upon ideal. Indeed, as we will see, such evidence is abundant. The martyr accounts, moreover, do not merely assert Christian masculinity—they provide examples of it. In situation after situation, the martyrs show self-restraint, courage, and other masculine virtues while non-Christians display a less potent form of masculine behavior. The martyr accounts claim that Christians embody the attributes of the “life of reason”; the claim that Christians possessed justice, truth, self-control, and manliness did much to enhance Christians’ self-esteem.

SOCIAL IDENTITY THEORY APPLIED

Threats to Group and Self-Esteem

The subordination of self-esteem occurs when “low status groups acquiesce to majority rule.”¹⁶ If Christians, for example, submitted to demands to offer sacrifices to the gods (thus acquiescing to the majority rule), the consequence might have been a lowered self-esteem. In this case, group cohesion might also suffer, which could lead to the dissolution of the group. Many ancient Christian authors attest that Christian resistance to pagan hegemony and the display of masculine endurance during torture and death bolstered the martyr’s self-esteem. When non-Christians witnessed Christian confidence, it could spark conversion, as Tertullian famously asserted: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”¹⁷

Threats to self-esteem usually occur as challenges to the group’s possession of a particular resource and can originate both outside and inside one’s group. When group identity is being threatened, the importance of an individual’s performance of social identity is raised because each person is perceived as a representative of the group. In these cases, an individual’s performance is evaluated, and the group either affirms or rejects the person’s claim to group membership—that is, his social identity—based on the enactment of group characteristics. When a member’s actions do not conform to group norms, she is perceived as a threat to group identity and is rejected.¹⁸

Social identity theory, furthermore, predicts that we should expect a nonconforming in-group member to be rejected more vehemently than an out-group member because the in-group member is supposed to be a prototype of the group. The rejection of the in-group member—referred to as the “black sheep effect”—protects group identity by confirming the group’s standards: rejection eliminates the threat. Since in-group rejection occurs only when group cohesion is threatened, instances of it can provide important information about group identity.¹⁹ If, as I argue, masculinity is a key element in group identity, then it is surely not coincidental that only apostate Christians—nonconforming in-group members—are described as unmanly. These individuals are placed entirely outside of the group by denying they possess even inferior forms of the group’s ideals (i.e., they are “unmanly,” not “less manly”). The group, then, reaffirms its unity by expelling the unmanly Christian; this action also restores members’ self-esteem by reestablishing group superiority.

Self-esteem is based not only on successful competition, however, but also on the p...

Table of contents

• Cover 
• Half title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents 
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction: Constructing Identity Through Cultural Appropriation
• 1. What Is a Christian? Constructing a Christian Identity
• 2. Noble Athletes: Gladiatorial, Athletic, and Martial Imagery in the Martyr Acts
• 3. Be a Man: Narrative Tools of Masculinization in Early Christian Martyr Acts
• 4. Putting Women in Their Place: Masculinizing and Feminizing the Female Martyr
• Conclusion: Gender and Language in Early Christian Martyr Texts
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index