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Document Details : Title: Menstruation and Menstrual Purity in the Apostolic Constitutions Author(s): WHITEAR, Sarah Journal: Louvain Studies Volume: 46 Issue: 4 Date: 2023 Pages: 320-343 DOI: 10.2143/LS.46.4.3294213 Abstract : The Apostolic Constitutions is a fourth-century text comprising material taken from other early Christian documents, including the Didascalia. The existing sources are reworked by the compiler who, in doing so, creates a new unique document. Whilst the Apostolic Constitutions clearly utilises the Didascalia for its discussion of ritual purity, the way that the compiler uses, and more significantly differs from its source has not been examined sufficiently. This paper will outline the ways in which the Apostolic Constitutions uses the Didascalia in relation to its comments on menstruation and menstrual impurity. I will demonstrate that although the Didascalia is clearly the frame for the discussion of menstruation, the Apostolic Constitutions departs quite significantly from its source. Whereas the Didascalia polemicises against Christians following menstrual purity practices associated with Judaism, this is much less prominent in the Apostolic Constitutions. By contrast, in the later text, the emphasis is on affirming the goodness of sexuality on the one hand and on the other hand affirming the laws of the Pentateuch. |
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