We don't know what to do with consecrated virginity. The only way we can think of it as a disembodied spiritual calling; or as a fairly strange alternative to what is normal, marriage. Marc and Maria describe how Protestantism (and, in particular, Luther) denied the purpose of the virgin.
Come to our Conference! https://newpolity.com/events/2024
Don't miss out on great essays. Subscribe to New Polity magazine. https://newpolity.com/magazine
------------
Readings No More Virgins. What Protestantism Takes From Gender. We are reading Martin Luther condemning virginity, not because he was the only guy to do it, but because (a) he has a flair for exhortations and (b) we had to pick someone. The point is to understand how what had been an unquestioned symbol of perfection in Christendom is now being characterized as a merely individual calling. The only free source for this exhortation in English appears to be this pretty intense website: https://www.godrules.net/library/luth... If you need an example of previous Christian enthusiasm for virginity, try https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/290...
