From: Robert Schneider (rjschn39@bellsouth.net)
Date: Sun Aug 03 2003 - 09:51:33 EDT
George writes:
>
> I think it's plausible that Paul (& his contemporaries) did not have
anything
> like our modern understanding of sexual orientation. But it seems very
unlikely that he
> wasn't aware that homosexual activity sometimes took place outside
settings of pagan
> ritual. & was there any significant lesbian pagan ritual? (The Romans
passage is the
> only biblical one to mention female same-sex activity.)
>
>
I've kept silent during this latest round of notes on the topic, but
George's comment spurs me to jump in. What follows is based on my reading
of ancient literature and studies back during my long life as a classicist.
I think it is more than likely that Paul and contemporaries had nothing like
our modern understanding of sexual orientation. Ancient Greco-Roman society
was built upon the structure of the family, and every male (certainly the
first-born) was expected to marry and provide offspring to perpetuate the
family and the state. Since men, around 30, were married (in arranged
unions) to women half their age, it was not uncommon for young men of the
upper classes in Greece to established erotic relationships with other males
to provide the emotional bonding that was impossible with respectible women
outside of marriage, before they married; but any sexual component was
temporary. While I find it hard to believe that there were not men and
women who had what we call a homosexual orientation (they did not have a
term for it) they still would have been expected to marry; while there may
have been same-sex long term liaisons, such do not turn up in the literature
of ancient Greece and Rome. Among the Romans, sexual activity among persons
of the same gender appear even more temporary and more of a promiscuous than
a bonding nature, if the literature is any indication. But one of the
problems here is that Greek and Roman literature rarely describes life among
the lower classes. We don't have enough of a "spread" to make clear
decisions about it.
When I read Paul's description of lustful "homosexual" behavior in
Romans 1, I think more of the behavior of upper-class Romans at their
orgies; in our language, heterosexuals indulging in homosexual behavior.
Other references by Paul in Corinthians, etc., seem to me to refer to male
prostitution. While the interpretation of these passages continue to be
arguable (as is evident from this recent list discussion), I would contend
that given the conditions in the pagan societies of Paul's day, I am not
convinced that any passage referring to same-sex behavior in the NT, or the
OT for that matter, has anything to do with the phenomenon of our day:
public same-sex long-term, monogamous, faithful partnerships that have more
to do with relationship than sexuality. I think the church needs to face up
to this matter and address it in a thoughtful and charitable way, rather
than merely condeming it. And in my mind that means the church needs to
come to terms with centuries of unhealty attitudes and practices regarding
human sexuality as a whole, beginning with the exaltation of celibacy during
the early period, and recurring attitudes that in some way sex is dirty and
sex in marriage is primarily for procreation. We Christians have not done a
good job with opposite-sex unions, let alone same-sex, and we cannot
effectively address the latter until we finally deal adequately with the
former.
While I'm at it, let me comment on this sudden spate of activity to pass
legislation to define marriage as a union of a man with a women. The
proponents claim that the purpose of such acts is "to defend marriage."
How, I ask, would such legislation "defend marriage"? I am puzzled and
would appreciate any thoughts about it. Marriage needs to be defended in
our day, but not from same-sex unions. We have an epidemic of divorce,
broken homes, spousal abuse and the abuse of children within the marriage,
patriarchal marriages that fail to keep Paul's dictum to "be mutually
submissive one to another" (Eph. 5:21). There are better ways to defend
marriage, and they need to be done on the local, church community level.
Grace and peace,
Bob Schneider
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