Bibliography Author: Joy Schroeder

In contrast to other church fathers who tolerated wife-beating and encouraged women to remain in abusive marriages, John Chrysostom argued that a man should not use physical violence against his wife for any reason whatsoever.

Unlike patristic and medieval commentators who harshly condemned Jacob‘s daughter Dinah (Genesis 34) for her own rape, Martin Luther interprets the story from the perspective of a loving father who is saddened by the grave injury done to his young daughter.

Schroeder explores the role of friendship in the life of Flemish Cistercian nun Beatrice of Nazareth (1200-1268). Friendship was a source of spiritual support and encouragement in monastic settings. Spiritual friends would also pray for one another to have visionary experiences on predetermined feast days, creating a climate of expectation surrounding church festivals.

Marguerite of Navarre (1492-1549), queen of the country of Navarre and sister to the king of France, wrote a literary anthology, the Heptameron, which contains numerous stories about priests who abused their office to sexually violate or harass women. In the Heptameron, Marguerite warns laypeople to be cautious in their dealings with priests, and she encourages noble people to use their influence to protect victims.