From Battling the Darkness to Changing the World: Early Christian Fasting and the Restructuring of Society

Garry J. Crites - Duke University

In this paper, I argue that fasting as prescribed in early Christian texts has not simply to do with self-mortification and purification, but also with the definition, maintenance, and (in some cases) the realignment of social structure in a community. Much scholarship of the early twentieth century interpreted early Christian fasting as body-hating, an attempt to renounce physicality in an effort to achieve spiritual perfection. An examination of primary sources demonstrates that such an explanation of early Christian fasting is simplistic and overdrawn. I suggest that more recent scholars who have examined the relationship of asceticism to other issues (such as personal identity, gender, and sexuality) have done well in challenging the notions of this earlier generation.

Nonetheless, I argue that we need to move beyond an examination of the individual as she fasts and recognize the social function of fasting, an essential and yet often overlooked aspect of early Christian asceticism. Fasting is an undeniably social ritual, one that has impact not only on the continent individual, but on entire social systems, whether marriage, monastery, or the Church at large. Using the model of Caroline Walker Bynum, I examine some of the works of John Cassian and Caesarius of Arles, showing that the texts on fasting which seem most focused on the ascetic individual are, in fact, commentaries on the needs of the community, and simultaneously serve to reinforce existing hierarchies while still allowing others to advance within the social network.

In the conclusion, I briefly discuss the implications of this topic for the larger study of early Christianity. Namely, the intentional positioning of fasting as a mean to affect social structure within the works of these Gallic Fathers would have a significant impact on the developing penitential practices in Ireland and Continental Europe.