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Document Details : Title: De invloed van christelijke maagden op onze seksualiteit Subtitle: Michel Foucault, Methodius van Olympus, Plato Author(s): VANDERMEERSCH, Patrick Journal: Tijdschrift voor Filosofie Volume: 85 Issue: 2 Date: 2023 Pages: 283-305 DOI: 10.2143/TVF.85.2.3292645 Abstract : In his posthumous book, Confessions of the Flesh, Michel Foucault offers a perceptive analysis of the way Christianity has shaped our Western conception of sexuality. Building on the research he started in the first volume of History of Sexuality, The Will to Knowledge, he critically examines the diverse ways in which sexual identities have been shaped in the West. According to Foucault, the ideal of virginity was early Christianity’s sole invention in the domain of sexuality. Otherwise, Christians simply sanctioned and strengthened the already accepted sexual standards of classical Roman culture. Following common practice, Foucault deals with Methodius of Olympus, the first writer of a treatise on virginity, and positions him as a milestone on the path toward asceticism. However, a closer view of Methodius reveals aspects which remained unnoticed by Foucault. First, Methodius is directly dependent on Plato and therefore the latter’s specific views on homosexuality need to be investigated. Second, Methodius’ conception of the spiritualization of the body is in tension with Origen’s view of a pure spiritual body in heaven, and the real earthly body Methodius wants to preserve. This brings him to the conception of the spiritual eroticism of the virgins, not directed to object-love, nor pursuing asceticism, but finding their pleasure in mirroring each other’s beauty. |
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