Holiness and Masculinity in the Middle Ages

Reviewer's Bookwatch, August, 2005 by Paul T. Vogel

Holiness and Masculinity in the Middle Ages

P.H. Cullum and Katherine J. Lewis

University of Toronto Press

10 St. Mary Street, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4Y 2W8

0802048927 $27.50 1-800-565-9523 www.utppublishing.com

Holiness and Masculinity in the Middle Ages is a compilation of scholarly essays that examine medieval masculinity and identity in a religious, spiritual, sanctified or "holy" context. Sample writings include "Matronly Monks: Theodoret of Cyrrhus' Sexual Imagery in the Historia Religiosa", "Holy Eunuchs! Masculinity and Eunuch Saints in Byzantium", "The Significance of the Tonsure", and more. A handful of black-and-white illustrations and extensive notes and research underscore these meticulously thought-out discussions of masculinity in medieval times as a source of validation or anxiety. An eye-opening view of medieval culture, and a welcome balance to more numerous discussions of "holy" femininity in medieval times.