Slandering the Jew: Sexuality and Difference in Early Christian TextsAs Christian leaders in the first through fifth centuries embraced ascetic interpretations of the Bible and practices of sexual renunciation, sexual slander such as the accusations Paul leveled against wayward Gentiles in the New Testament played a pivotal role in the formation of early Christian identity. In particular, the imagined construct of the lascivious, literal minded Jew served as a convenient foil to the chaste Christian ideal. Susanna