From the Archives: The Value of Virginity
We are not ignorant of: “Marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled” (Heb. 13:4). We read God’s first judgment: “Increase and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen. 1:28), but just as we accept marriage, we prefer virginity, which is born of marriage. Now will silver not be silver, if gold is more precious than it? . . . . Although the one-hundred-fold, sixty-fold, and thirty-fold fruits are brought forth from one earth and from one sowing, nonetheless they differ much in number. The thirty-fold refers to marriage . . . , the sixty-fold to widows . . . , the one-hundred-fold . . . expresses the crown of virginity.
By the Editors
[Christian History originally published this article in Christian History Issue #17 in 1988]
Next articles
From the Archives: Agnes: the Virgin Martyr
From the bitter persecution of Diocletian (303–305), a young heroine emerged.
PrudentiusEarly Church Women and Heresy
Of course not only women were attracted to the heretical sects that diverged from early church orthodoxy, but women were prominent in their leadership and teachings. Why might this have been?
Ruth A. Tucker and Walter LiefeldPaula: A Portrait of 4th Century Piety
This close friend of the scholar Jerome, known for her scholarship and her extreme piety and generosity, was one of the most noteworthy people—women or men—in all the 4th-century church.
Nancy A. HardestyChristian History Timeline: Women and the Church Orders
Chronology of women in church orders.
the Editors
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