Claiming Corporeal Capital: John Chrysostom's Homilies on the Maccabean Martyrs

Abstract

This study examines John Chrysostom's homilies On the Maccabees specifically from the perspective of martyrdom as corporeal discourse. Chrysostom focuses mostly on the martyr-mother and the last of the seven sons. Along with the discourse of maternality and the maternal body, a contrary meta-discourse of masculinity is promoted that overrides the feminine weaknesses of maternality. In typical androcentric and patriarchal fashion, Chrysostom has the Maccabean martyr-mother deny her maternal corporeal knowledge, and implements a potent andromorphism in the reconstruction of her corporeality and self-definition. Central to this endeavour is the application and promotion of a new scopic economy, a new way of looking with spiritual eyes. The last son's martyrdom, being voluntary and suicidal, is valued by Chrysostom, since the mother acts as a catalyst for his death. Chrysostom strategically succeeds in claiming this corporeal capital for the wider programme of reconstructing martyrdom in late antique Christianity.

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