‘The Teaching of Faith’ - Construction of Sex Identities Through Popularization of Orthodox Theological Literature Cover Image

Учење вери“ - Конструкција родних идентитета путем популаризације православне теолошке литературе
‘The Teaching of Faith’ - Construction of Sex Identities Through Popularization of Orthodox Theological Literature

Author(s): Lidija Radulović
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Education, Family and social welfare, Eastern Orthodoxy
Published by: Етнографски институт САНУ
Keywords: religion and gender; popular religious literature; pious education; a woman and a man in Orthodoxy;
Summary/Abstract: The paper analyzes the construction of sex identities in Orthodox Christianity through popular religious literature. Attention is drawn to several topics on the basis of which we could appreciate the concept of value and of the norms and rules of behavior laid down by the Orthodox Church for the protagonists of sex functions. The methodology used is that of a qualitative analysis of the content. The basic theme is identified first - that is, the relationship between the sexes, ‘man ’ and ‘woman’ — and then the subthemes analyzed - the status and functions of father and mother. The accent is laid on typical, widely known religious ideas through which sex divisions, i.e. inequalities, get religious justification. Although, on the one hand, dogmatic propositions of any religion are not relative, but have reference to all times and circumstances, the interpretation, on the other hand, of the basic Christian norms relative to sex differences and relationships, presented in a popular fashion, may exert a vital influence on sex identity models. And this is exactly what the paper shows, — how those models are conceptualized from the sex aspect.

  • Page Range: 25-46
  • Page Count: 22
  • Publication Year: 2003
  • Language: Serbian