Chosen among Women: Mary and Fatima in Medieval Christianity and Shi`ite Islam combines historical analysis with the tools of gender studies and religious studies to compare the roles of the Virgin Mary in medieval Christianity with those of Fatima, daughter of the prophet Muhammad, in Shi`ite Islam. The book explores the proliferation of Marian imagery in Late Antiquity through the Church fathers and popular hagiography. It examines how Merovingian authors assimilated powerful queens and abbesses to a Marian prototype to articulate their political significance and, at the same time, censure holy women's public charisma. Mary Thurlkill focuses as well on the importance of Fatima in the evolution of Shi`ite identity throughout the Middle East. She examines how scholars such as Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi advertised Fatima as a symbol of the Shi`ite holy family and its glorified status in paradise, while simultaneously binding her as a mother to the domestic sphere and patriarchal authority.
This important comparative look at feminine ideals in both Shi`ite Islam and medieval Christianity is of relevance and value in the modern world, and it will be welcomed by scholars and students of Islam, comparative religion, medieval Christianity, and gender studies.
Chosen among Women: Mary and Fatima in Medieval Christianity and Shi`ite Islam combines historical analysis with the tools of gender studies and religious studies to compare the roles of the Virgin Mary in medieval Christianity with those of Fatima, daughter of the prophet Muhammad, in Shi`ite Islam. The book explores the proliferation of Marian imagery in Late Antiquity through the Church fathers and popular hagiography. It examines how Merovingian authors assimilated powerful queens and abbesses to a Marian prototype to articulate their political significance and, at the same time, censure holy women's public charisma. Mary Thurlkill focuses as well on the importance of Fatima in the evolution of Shi`ite identity throughout the Middle East. She examines how scholars such as Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi advertised Fatima as a symbol of the Shi`ite holy family and its glorified status in paradise, while simultaneously binding her as a mother to the domestic sphere and patriarchal authority.
This important comparative look at feminine ideals in both Shi`ite Islam and medieval Christianity is of relevance and value in the modern world, and it will be welcomed by scholars and students of Islam, comparative religion, medieval Christianity, and gender studies.
Mary F. Thurlkill is associate professor of religion at the University of Mississippi.
“Thurlkill has produced a remarkable study, a model for comparative
work in the history of religions. The book is original,
well-researched, and shows great erudition. Thurlkill's original
acumen is brought to bear on a rich and variegated topic that has
for too long been ignored by specialists not willing to move beyond
the confines of overly determined areas of research.“ —Brannon
Wheeler, United States Naval Academy
“. . . this work is a welcome contribution to the fields of both
medieval Christian and medieval Muslim studies . . . it adds to our
understanding of how gender is deployed by the clerical
establishment or figures of authority in a religious tradition to
negotiate the terrain of diverse theological, political, social,
and religious practices in the ongoing struggle to shape orthodoxy
and orthopraxy . . . the greatest contribution of the book is its
demonstration that even though patriarchal constructs draw
parameters around these two holy women, the possibilities such
figures open up for multivalent understandings of their roles and
accomplishments are nonetheless significant.” —History of
Religions
“An ambitious attempt to compare depictions of the sacred feminine
in medieval Christianity and Shi’ite Islam. A strength of
Thurlkill’s study is her use of concepts from a range of
disciplines . . . a work that highlights the potential for future
comparative studies.” —Speculum
“Crossing the topics of religious studies, gender, and hagiography,
Thurlkill juxtaposes the images of Mary and Fatima as they were
constructed by late antique and medieval thinkers for various
theological and political purposes. . . . Thurlkill’s study is to
be welcomed as a bridge connecting gender studies, Christian
studies, and Islamic studies, and as a indicator of directions for
future research.” —Church History
“Despite her over-emphasis on similarities, Thurlkill does explore
how some profound differences between early Christianity and
Shi’ite Islam result in different constructions of Mary and
Fatima.” —Medieval Feminist Forum 44.2
“This is an interesting book, covering historical, political,
media, cultural, and feminist aspects of Mary and Fatima. It shows
that image-making in the concrete and abstract senses has long been
a tool of those seeking to influence and control others.” —Journal
of Islamic Studies
“Thurlkill examines feminine imagery in medieval Christianity and
Islam, using Mary and Fatima as exemplars for complex political,
religious, and social agendas. . . . Christian and Shi'ite Muslim
theologians used Mary and Fatima as orthodox gender models for
pious women to imitate, with marriage and motherhood serving as
sacred vocations. Fatima, the Prophet Muhammad's daughter,
symbolized the reverence for the prophet's family in Shi'a Islam;
she became a symbol of both religious orthodoxy and dynastic
mandate, just as the Merovingians used Mary's maternal image to
provide themselves with a political pedigree in the sixth and
seventh centuries.” —Choice
“Doing substantial comparative work in rhetoric, gender, and
religion, Thurlkill is outwardly interested in holy women. Her
study provides a side-by-side examination of the ways in which men
in medieval Christianity and Shiite Islam constructed and enshrined
feminine images 'without seriously compromising conservative gender
designations.' Extensively footnoted and with a rich bibliography,
this is recommended for academic gender and religion collections.”
—Library Journal
"Thurlkill presents a new thoughtful and provocative work,
exploring the decisive role that both Mary and Fatima have played
respectively in Christianity and Shi’ite Islam. . . . Thurlkill’s
book explores the proliferation of Marian imagery in Latin
Antiquity through the church fathers and popular hagiography.
Chosen among Women combines historical analysis with the tools of
gender studies and religious studies to compare the roles of the
Virgin Mary in medieval Christianity with those of Fatima.” —The
Sixteenth Century Journal
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