Ritual, Gender, and the Body in the Early Christian World

Ritual, Gender, and the Body in the Early Christian World Edited By Richard E. DeMaris, Soham Al-Suadi, Richard S. Ascough Copyright 2026 DescriptionThis volume investigates the central role of physical bodies, ritual technologies, healing practices, gender constructions, and visual imagery in creating and sustaining religious meaning in antiquity.Religious life in the ancient world was profoundly shaped by the interplay of materiality, ritual, embodiment, and visuality. Far from being purely intellectual or doctrinal, religious practices across Greco-Roman and early Christian contexts were enacted through tangible, sensory, and embodied experiences that engaged worshippers physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Drawing from a rich array of primary sources and theoretical frameworks, especially gender studies and ritual studies, the chapters collectively emphasize that religion in this period was fundamentally experienced through ritualized actions, embodied transformations, and visually charged sacred spaces. With its focus on ritual, gender, and the body, the book offers readers a fresh approach to ancient Christianity and the Greco-Roman world in which it emerged.This interdisciplinary volume is suitable for students and scholars working on the New Testament and early Christianity and issues of ritual, gender, and the body in the early Christian world.Table of ContentsList of figures ixList of tables xiList of contributors xiiAcknowledgments xvAbbreviations xviIntroduction: Embodying belief 1RICHARD E. DEMARIS1 Theorizing ritual and gender: The case of masculinity 8ERIC C. STEWART2 Readjusting enslavement ritually: The case of Paul’s Letter to Philemon 28SUZAN SIERKSMA-AGTERES, ILSE SWART, AND PETER-BEN SMIT3 Alexander the Great submits to a Judean high priest?!: Ritual and masculine performance in Josephus’ account of their meeting 46ERIC C. STEWART4 Ritual failure and masculinity in the martyrdom of Polycarp 60PETER-BEN SMIT5 Gender and early Christian visual discourse: The pictorial program of the Dura-Europos baptismal room 78RICHARD E. DEMARIS6 Female agency in ancient Greek religion 96ANNE GÜRLACH7 Placing the kitchen and the storeroom in the ritual landscape 111KATRINA ROSIE8 “The girl with the Pythian spirit”: Women’s ritual labor in Acts 16 129BRIGIDDA ZAPATA9 Naked in court—Humiliation and salvation: A comparison of Phryne, Thecla, and the naked young man of Mark 14:50–52 144HENRIKE BLOCK10 The body and its parts: Divided tongues as votive body parts in Acts 2:3 158SOHAM AL-SUADI11 Holy oil, haptics, and healing 181ALICIA J. BATTEN12 Healthy water, harmful water, and early Christian ambivalence toward it 197RICHARD E. DEMARIS AND HENRIKE BLOCK13 Geographic potency: Using magical papyri to find good drugs 215JON-PHILIPPE RUHUMULIZAConclusion 243RICHARD S. ASCOUGHIndex of ancient sources 253Index of modern authors 263Index of subjects 269Editor(s) BiographyRichard E. DeMaris is Senior Research Professor of Religious Studies at Valparaiso University (USA), whose special interest is early Christian ritual.Soham Al-Suadi is Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Rostock (Germany), with a research focus on early Christian ritual practices, meals in antiquity, and gender-critical biblical interpretation.Richard S. Ascough is Professor of Religious Studies at Queen’s University (Canada) and has published widely on the social dynamics of early Christ groups as well as Greek and Roman associations.Book Series This book is included in the following book series:Ritual in the Ancient Mediterranean