From the Socratics to Augustine, men used women’s voices in philosophical dialogues to speak as experts on the body, especially in three aspects: birth, the physical details of death, and erotic desire. These connections were inaugurated by Plato and Xenophon. However, a changing anthropology, and especially the belief that the body persisted after death, led certain Christian authors to increase the role given to female characters. When the body was revalued and brought into the centre of philosophical focus, women’s voices moved from reported speech into direct speech. Simultaneously, late ancient Christian authors reflected on the inherent connection between erotic desire and the genre of the dialogue itself, matching their subject to their form. Using female characters in their dialogues helped male authors come to know certain things that using male voices could not do as well, by thinking through specific topics ‘like a woman’; the female, with her culturally embodied nature, became a model of an ideal life which insisted on the persistence of the body, even in the afterlife.

In Gregory of Nyssa’s dialogue, On Soul and Resurrection, Macrina addresses questions about the nature of the soul and the possibility of survival after death. Her conversation involves striking similarities to Socrates’ arguments in Plato’s Phaedo. Both Macrina and Socrates are about to die, and both discourse about the soul and immortality. However, while Socrates’ arguments are commonly taught in classrooms around the world, Macrina’s arguments are widely neglected. This chapter argues that we should correct this oversight and pay more attention to Macrina as we include women in the philosophical canon of antiquity. Although no extant texts authored by her have survived, the chapter shows how the external evidence left by Gregory suggests Macrina is a worthy philosopher in her own right. She was not silent during her life. We should not allow her to remain silent in death.

Chapter 4 treats the Cappadocians’ hagiographic biographies in conjunction with their polemic against non-Trinitarian theologians.The chapter begins by outlining the background and teachings of Eunomius of Cyzicus (c. 335–c. 395), a longtime heterousian rival to the Cappadocians. The chapter analyzes the narratives about fourth-century Nicene bishop Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 298–372), Basil, and Macrina as hagiographies designed in part to contrast true (pro-Nicene) doctrine against the false philosophy of non-Trinitarians.These saints’ ascetic feats are recounted as spiritual ordeals fashioned as classical contests: in Athanasius, suffering multiple exiles because of standing up to false (heterousian) teachers; in Basil, countering threats to the Nicene faith by imperial officials; and in Macrina, enduring disease and death with unwavering resolve.In each case,Nyssen or Nazianzen emphasize that character is formed out of struggle; and that voice and speech (as a metaphor for doctrine) have been purified and validated in pro-Nicene theologians, but are corrupted and disingenuous in the untested charlatans they oppose.

Chapter 3 begins by laying out the late-fourth century theological conflict that set the backdrop for the following texts. It then investigates Nyssen’s and Nazianzen’s hagiographic biographies of third-century bishop Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 210–270), Basil (the Great), Macrina, and Gorgonia; each affiliated with pro-Nicene leadership. In these accounts, the protagonists demonstrate feats of strength and perseverance, modeled on ancient Greek athletes and warriors and biblical heroes; the latter refashioned to accord with characterizations of classical masculinity.The subjects stand out as examples of piety and authority not only for their actions, but also for their appearance.Nyssen and Nazianzen detailed the beauty of each as a testament of their excellence, an example of evaluating the body according to classical Greek norms.As projections of moral superiority and fortitude, these personifications projected Trinitarian supporters as a synthesis of holiness and manhood.By authoring these accounts, Nyssen and Nazianzen enhanced their own capital as theologians associated with saints acquitted through various contests that defended truth.

This chapter uses three stories of young women’s relationships with their parents to increase our understanding of Christianity’s impact on classic familial values in late antiquity. It is focused on the ways in which the famous second century story of the virgin Thecla, and her difficult relationship with her mother Theocleia, was read and reused in later Christian stories. In the Passion of Eugenia we see how Thecla’s story becomes a catalyst for the eponymous heroine to follow Thecla’s example and reject the marriage proposed for her. She does so, however, without creating the rift with her parents that Thecla’s departure necessitates. That careful reuse demonstrates the developing uncertainty over whether the rise of Christian asceticism necessitated the destruction of the traditional household. In Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of Macrina, we see the Cappadocian bishop again using Thecla to think with, as he feels his way towards a new solution to this same problem. These case studies not only show us the changing landscape of Christian thinking on marriage, family, and asceticism, but also reveal the complex matrix of meanings latent in the original Acts of Paul and Thecla.