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Sacred Prostitution Thesis
Jun. 15th, 2005 06:08 amI'll be heading to Kinko's soon to make a copy of my Masters Degree thesis on sacred prostitution in the ancient and modern worlds, written back in 1998, for one of my LJ friends. From time to time, a couple of other friends have expressed interest in reading it -- so as long as I'm going to make one copy, I might as well make several. Unfortunately, I don't have a soft copy.
In the thesis, I start by discussing the variety of practices which have been labeled under "sacred prostitution," and then do close readings of the ancient texts most frequently cited to support a hypothesis of "sacred prostitution" in the ancient near east. I find most of the texts are more evocative than descriptive of actual practices, and not all can be trusted as reliable sources of objective information. I then look at how these ancient texts have inspired women today in their quest to reunite sexuality and spirituality, including those who self-identify and practice as sacred prostitutes. I was fortunate enough to interview a few of these women, which was a fascinating experience. I know that some men also identify as sacred prostitutes, but the bulk of the material I found was oriented towards women's practices, so I didn't try to cover the male experience.
My advisors included a professor of ancient near eastern language and literature (who is one of the rare souls who actually reads the ancient language of Sumer), a Greek classics prof, and a professor of Christian History who has a special focus in Gnosticism. They all gave me high marks, so I feel confident that it represents a quality assessment of the material available at that time.
There are also pictures. ;-)
If you would like me to make and mail you a copy, please leave a comment on this entry. Mailing addresses can be emailed to janetsabrina at yahoo.
In the thesis, I start by discussing the variety of practices which have been labeled under "sacred prostitution," and then do close readings of the ancient texts most frequently cited to support a hypothesis of "sacred prostitution" in the ancient near east. I find most of the texts are more evocative than descriptive of actual practices, and not all can be trusted as reliable sources of objective information. I then look at how these ancient texts have inspired women today in their quest to reunite sexuality and spirituality, including those who self-identify and practice as sacred prostitutes. I was fortunate enough to interview a few of these women, which was a fascinating experience. I know that some men also identify as sacred prostitutes, but the bulk of the material I found was oriented towards women's practices, so I didn't try to cover the male experience.
My advisors included a professor of ancient near eastern language and literature (who is one of the rare souls who actually reads the ancient language of Sumer), a Greek classics prof, and a professor of Christian History who has a special focus in Gnosticism. They all gave me high marks, so I feel confident that it represents a quality assessment of the material available at that time.
There are also pictures. ;-)
If you would like me to make and mail you a copy, please leave a comment on this entry. Mailing addresses can be emailed to janetsabrina at yahoo.
