Perpetua's Passion: The Death And Memory Of A Young Roman Woman

Theological Studies, March, 1999 by Robin M. Jensen

PERPETUA'S PASSION: THE DEATH AND MEMORY OF A YOUNG ROMAN WOMAN. By Joyce E. Salisbury. New York: Routledge, 1997. Pp. 228. $19.95.

Salisbury attempts to put the account of the Passion of Perpetua into a broad cultural, intellectual, and religious context. As background or preface to a kind of commentary on the Passion itself, she discusses contemporary Roman family life and religion, the social and cultural situation of Carthage, and Christian conversion and martyrdom in the second and third centuries. In addition to setting out the context of the martyrdom account, however, she argues that Perpetua's (and her companions') conversion to Christianity and her willingness to die for her faith were driven by particular motives, among them a religious or spiritual drive which would have been characteristic of a young woman of Perpetua's social status, family relationships (especially with her father), and educational background.

The historical background S. provides is, in itself, very useful, but her move from context to particular conclusions about Perpetua herself seems to go far beyond the data provided by the text of the Passion. For instance, following her summary of Roman religious cults seen as particularly attractive to upper class Roman women (e.g. the Good Mother or Isis), S. securely asserts that Perpetua and/or her mother would have been very familiar with, influenced by, and even devotees of those goddesses. Undoubtedly, this kind of claim is an attempt to "flesh out" a character whose biographical data is limited to the single account of her martyrdom.

S. takes much for granted in such moves from broad context to specific assertions, making unqualified and definitive claims in so doing. For instance, she presumes that Tertullian personally would have exhorted Perpetua and her companions to undergo martyrdom, that "as a Carthaginian she was prepared for self-sacrifice" (57), that Felicitas was (in fact) Perpetua's family slave, or that as a typical young women of her social class she would have attended the theater and read particular novels. While all these things might be true, we cannot know any of them with such certainty. The story of Perpetua is endlessly fascinating and the effort to integrate social and intellectual context is laudable. However, despite its usefulness, this book should be viewed as a monograph with an interesting, though very weakly supported thesis.

ROBIN M. JENSEN Andover Newton Theological School