Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
This article presents a scrutiny of four major monastic texts (Augustine's letters to Laetus and Ecdicia; Gregory of Nyssa's Life of Macrina; and the Egyptian monk Shenoute's sermon, "On Cleaving to Profitable Things") to argue that a "profamilial" attitude existed alongside the widely-recognized "antifamilial" one. Overall I wish to argue that even within an ascetic discourse, "family discourse" could be used to transform the notion of "family" into one cohesive Christian category. Together these texts show that in late antique Christianity the spiritual and fleshly families could be linked, rather than opposed, to attain salvation for all.
Rebecca Krawiec (Mon,) studied this question.