Sexual Slander

This essay explores sexual slander in early Christian literature in order to show how it illuminates the Greek concept of porneia, the formation of religious and cultural identities, and the regulation of sexual practices within early Christian communities. Porneia is central to understanding sexual slander in the New Testament because it functioned as an umbrella term for a variety of sexual practices deemed shameful, sinful, or illicit. The essay suggests two related directions for future study. First, studies of sexual slander should take into account the strong ties between slavery, prostitution, sexuality, and social status in the ancient Mediterranean world. Second, more work is needed on the relation of sexual invective and violence. By understanding the early Christian contribution to the twin legacies of sexual polemic and violence, we move closer to a critical understanding of the use of dehumanizing rhetoric and sexualized representation in the justification of violence.

The Levite’s Concubine (Judg 19:2) and the Tradition of Sexual Slander in the Hebrew Bible: How the Nature of Her Departure Illustrates a Tradition’s Tendency

In explaining a text-critical problem in Judges 19:2 this paper demonstrates that MT attempts to ameliorate the horrific rape and murder of an innocent person by sexual slander, a feature also seen in Balaam and Jezebel. Although Balaam and Jezebel are condemned in the biblical traditions, it is clear that negative portrayals of each have been augmented by later tradents. Although initially good, Balaam is blamed by late biblical tradents (Num 31:16) for the sin at Baal Peor (Numbers 25), where “the people begin to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab.” Jezebel is condemned for sorcery and harlotry in 2 Kgs 9:22, although no other text depicts her harlotry. The concubine, like Balaam and Jezebel, dies at the hands of Israelites, demonstrating a clear pattern among the late tradents of the Hebrew Bible who seek to justify the deaths of these characters at the hands of fellow Israelites.

Casting Aspersions, Writing a Kingdom: Sexual Slander and Political Rhetoric in 2 Sam 3:6-11, 2 Sam 6:16; 20-23, and 1 Kgs 2:13-25

In the story of King David found in 1 Sam 16-1 Kgs 2, several episodes recount a sexual(ized) allegation made against a significant character: Ishbosheth accuses Abner of having relations with his father Saul’s consort in 2 Sam 3:6-11; Michal disparages David for flaunting himself during the cultic procession of the ark in 2 Sam 6:16; 20-23; and Solomon executes his half-brother Adonijah for requesting marriage to David’s former ‘attendant’ Abishag in 1 Kgs 2:13-25. This paper will argue that 2 Sam 3:6-11, 2 Sam 6:16; 20-23, and 1 Kgs 2:13-25 function as historiographic slander and serve the strategic literary purposes of the David narrative by providing explanations for political fallout between particular characters while simultaneously defending the moral stature of the kings David and Solomon.

Poison in the Panarion: Beasts, Heretics, and Sexual Deviants

Epiphanius builds Christian identity in his Panarion by merging two distinct discourses of othering: poison and sexual slander. By combining a rhetoric of poison with a rhetoric of sexual slander, Epiphanius produced a new way of thinking about—and creating—theological difference. By linking his opponents to sexual deviance, identifying heresies as poisons which can invade the church, and likening heretics to beasts, Epiphanius delegitimated his opponents, characterized himself as the church’s chief medical officer, and presented one acceptable Christian identity.