Women, Sex, and Privative Violence in the Council of Elvira Canons

Abstract

This article analyzes forms of ecclesiastical punishments found in the fourth-century Council of Elvira canons. Previous work on the council and canons has rightly argued that the regional bishops were concerned with policing the boundaries of their communities, especially when it comes to marriage, women, and sexual behavior. Yet rather than see the punishments and preoccupation with women as representing a natural result of heterosexual male desire or sexual anxiety, a re-evaluation of the canons reveals that church leaders used excommunication as a punishment to exercise social control. In effect, the efforts to deprive community members of communion and baptism function as a form of privative violence. The article analyzes how the canons use the most severe forms of privative violence, near-total and total excommunication, for situations that concerned the sexual behavior of women. By situating the Council of Elvira canons in their sociocultural context in Roman Hispania, as well as among other examples of early Christian texts focused on women’s supposedly deviant bodies, this article contributes to efforts to expand our understanding of the intersection of gender and violence. More importantly, it addresses how these acts of privative violence, particularly against women, shaped the contours of ancient Christian communities.