Early Christian Mystagogy and the Body: Obstacle and Opportunity in the Ascetic Tradition

The theme of “Early Christian Mystagogy and the Body” offers food for thought because the body is not an easy subject in patristic thought. This makes our topic a challenging one. In this contribution, I will reflect on early Christian tradition in general, and on asceticism in particular. It is important to remember that the two are often closely linked: in the work of Athanasius, for instance, to be a Christian ultimately meant to be an ascetic.¹ A similar concept is found in Syriac Christianity, where celibacy may have been a pre-requisite for baptism until the third century.² Before I...