Chosen among Women: Mary and Fatima in Medieval Christianity and Shi'ite Islam

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 224 pages
• Published by: University of Notre Dame Press
• Edition: 1st Edition January 15, 2008
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0268042314
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0268042318
• Book Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Weighs: 12 ounces

Product Review
"Doing substantial comparative work in rhetoric, gender, and religion, Thurlkill is outwardly interested in holy women. Her study provides a side-by-side examination of the ways in which men in medieval Christianity and Shiite Islam constructed and enshrined feminine images 'without seriously compromising conservative gender designations.' Extensively footnoted and with a rich bibliography, this is recommended for academic gender and religion collections." -- Library Journal, February 1, 2008

Product Description
"Thurlkill has produced a remarkable study, a model for comparative work in the history of religions. The book is original, well-researched, and shows great erudition. Thurlkill's original acumen is brought to bear on a rich and variegated topic that has for too long been ignored by specialists not willing to move beyond the confines of overly determined areas of research." --Brannon Wheeler, United States Naval Academy

Chosen among Women: Mary and Fatima in Medieval Christianity and Shi`ite Islam combines historical analysis with the tools of gender studies and religious studies to compare the roles of the Virgin Mary in medieval Christianity with those of Fatima, daughter of the prophet Muhammad, in Shi`ite Islam. The book explores the proliferation of Marian imagery in late antiquity through the writings of church fathers and in popular hagiography. It looks at how Merovingian authors assimilated powerful queens and abbesses to a Marian prototype to articulate their political significance and, at the same time, censure holy women's public appeal. Mary Thurlkill focuses equally on the importance of Fatima in the evolution of Shi`ite identity throughout the Middle East. She looks at how scholars such as Muhammad Baqir al-Majlisi advertised Fatima as a symbol of the Shi`ite holy family and its glorified status in paradise, while simultaneously binding her as a mother to the domestic sphere and patriarchal authority.

This important comparative look at feminine ideals in both Shi`ite Islam and medieval Christianity is of relevance and value in the modern world. It will be welcomed by scholars and students of Islam, comparative religion, medieval Christianity, and gender studies.