User:SeanP71/History of Christianity and homosexuality

Article Draft

History of Christianity and homosexuality

Text copied from article formatted as computer code, my additions left in standard format

The Middle Ages

See also: Homosexuality in medieval Europe

John Boswell, in his essay The Church and the Homosexual, attributes Christianity's denunciations of "homosexuality" to an alleged rising intolerance in Europe throughout the 12th century, which he claims was also reflected in other ways. His premise is that when sodomy was not being explicitly and "officially" denounced, it was therefore being "tolerated". Historian R. W. Southern disagreed with Boswell's claims and wrote in 1990 that "the only relevant generalization which emerges from the penitential codes down to the eleventh century is that sodomy was treated on about the same level as copulation with animals." Southern further notes that "Boswell thinks that the omission of sodomy from the stringent new code of clerical celibacy issued by the Roman Council of 1059 implies a degree of tolerance. Countering this is the argument that the Council of 1059 had more urgent business on hand; and in any case, sodomy had been condemned by Leo IX at Rheims in 1049." Similarly, Pierre Payer asserted in 1984 that Boswell's thesis (as outlined in his Christianity, Homosexuality and Social Tolerance) ignores an alleged wealth of condemnations found in the penitential literature prior to the 12th century. More recently, historian Allan Tulchin wrote in 2007 in the Journal of Modern History that, "It is impossible to prove either way and probably also somewhat irrelevant to understanding their way of thinking. They loved each other, and the community accepted that."

Adelphopoiesis continued to be practiced throughout the Middle Ages, especially in the Greek-speaking Christian world. The Byzantine emperor Basil I was purported to have been a participant in such a same-sex union prior to his rise to power according to several biographies dated to within a century of his life, but the evidence of such a union occuring is disputed. The exact nature of these same-sex unions has been debated by scholars, as although they share parallels to the contemporary Christian understanding of heterosexual marriage, homosexuality was not considered acceptable. Despite this, they continued to be performed throughout the Middle Ages, often in churches.

Hildegard von Bingen, a Benedictine abbess and Catholic saint (1098-1179)

Peter Damian wrote the Liber Gomorrhianus, an extended attack on both homosexuality and masturbation. He portrayed homosexuality as a counter-rational force undermining morality, religion, and society itself, and in need of strong suppression lest it spread even and especially among clergy. Damian reports that even Otto III was intimate with many men (sharing the bed and bath).

Hildegard of Bingen reported seeing visions and recorded them in Scivias (short for Scito vias Domini, "Know the Ways of the Lord"). In Book II Vision Six, she quotes God as condemning same-sex intercourse, including lesbianism; "a woman who takes up devilish ways and plays a male role in coupling with another woman is most vile in My sight, and so is she who subjects herself to such a one in this evil deed". Her younger contemporary Alain de Lille personified the theme of sexual sin in opposition to nature in The Complaint of Nature by having Nature herself denounce sexual immorality and especially homosexuality as rebellion against her direction, terming it confusion between masculine and feminine and between subject and object. The Complaint also includes a striking description of the neglect of womanhood:

Though all the beauty of man humbles itself before the fairness of woman, being always inferior to her glory; though the face of the daughter of Tyndaris is brought into being and the comeliness of Adonis and Narcissus, conquered, adores her; for all this she is scorned, although she speaks as beauty itself, though her godlike grace affirms her to be a goddess, though for her the thunderbolt would fail in the hand of Jove, and every sinew of Apollo would pause and lie inactive, though for her the free man would become a slave, and Hippolytus, to enjoy her love, would sell his very chastity. Why do so many kisses lie untouched on maiden lips, and no one wish to gain a profit from them?

In the 13th century, Thomas Aquinas argued that not all things to which a person might be inclined are "natural" in the morally relevant sense; rather, only the inclination to the full and proper expression of the human nature, and inclinations which align with that inclination, are natural. Contrary inclinations are perversions of the natural in the sense that they do seek a good, but in a way destructive of good.

This view points from the natural to the Divine, because (following Aristotle) he said all people seek happiness; but according to Aquinas, happiness can only finally be attained through beatific vision. Therefore, all sins are also against the natural law. But the natural law of many aspects of life is knowable apart from special revelation by examining the forms and purposes of those aspects. It is in this sense that Aquinas considered homosexuality unnatural, since it involves a kind of partner other than the kind to which the purpose of sexuality points. He considered it comparable to heterosexual sex for pleasure (rather than reproduction).

The tone of the denunciations often indicate a more than theoretical concern. Archbishop Ralph of Tours had his lover John installed as Bishop of Orléans with agreement of both the King of France and Pope Urban II. In 1395 there was a transvestite homosexual prostitute arrested in London with some records surviving, and the Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards included the denunciation of priestly celibacy as a cause of sodomy.

Thomas Aquinas, Catholic saint and theologian (1225-1274)

Due to a lack of evidence, it is impossible to know the specifics surrounding the societal understanding of female homosexuality. The primary source of thought on lesbianism appears to have been Thomas Aquinas, who considered homosexual acts between women to be sins against nature, much the same as male homosexuality. Aside from Aquinas, mentions of homosexuality between women are very rare. Some scholars interpret this as a sign that lesbianism may have been almost intentionally ignored; the popular belief at the time seemed to be that women were not capable of wanting another woman more than a man, and that sex between a man and a woman was intrinsically superior to sex between two women, as women could not make up for the lack of a phallus.

Direct references to sodomy between women or to the persecution of homosexual women were rare, but there were some concerns regarding the behavior of nuns. The councils of Paris and Rouen, for example, disallowed nuns from sharing a bed or forming particularly close bonds of friendship with each other. Although these decisions do not explicitly mention concerns of same-sex attraction between nuns, Judith C. Brown argues in Immodest Acts: The Life of a Lesbian Nun in Renaissance Italy that they imply an awareness of potential homoeroticism.

There were, however, some writers who recommended penalties for homosexual acts between women. In most cases, these penalties tended to be more lenient than those levied against men involved in homosexuality. Theodore of Tarsus, for example, recommended 3 years penance for women who were guilty of homosexuality, as opposed to 10 years for men. This leniency was not true in every case, however. As the 16th century began, it became more common for lesbian acts to be prosecuted on the same level as male homosexuality, often punished with death.

The Reformation and Counter-Reformation

Leading up to the Reformation, Western European views on homosexuality became increasingly hostile, although the exact reason for this change is uncertain.

Martin Luther's view of homosexuality is recorded in Plass's What Luther Says:

Martin Luther, seminal figure of Protestant Reformation (1483-1562)

The vice of the Sodomites is an unparalleled enormity. It departs from the natural passion and desire, planted into nature by God, according to which the male has a passionate desire for the female. Sodomy craves what is entirely contrary to nature. Whence comes this perversion? Without a doubt it comes from the devil. After a man has once turned aside from the fear of God, the devil puts such great pressure upon his nature that he extinguishes the fire of natural desire and stirs up another, which is contrary to nature.

As sodomy became more of a concern, it began to be punished harshly. When uncovered, cases of sodomy were investigated thoroughly, and were often punished with death or banishment. In some Swiss cases, there was communication between cities to alert each other to locations of homosexual activities. In others, arrest warrants were distributed in order to catch suspects. This communication continued even after the Reformation.

Same-sex relationships between men occurred between a wide variety of partners. Some were adolescent, other cases involved both partners belonging to a lower social class, and others were between one higher class partner and one of a slightly lower social standing. The occurrences which included class-disparity were often accompanied by opportunities for the partner with a lower social standing, including gifts, monetary compensation, or favors from the upper-class partner.

In many cases, sodomy was seen as a sin which represented treason against God, as same-sex activities were believed to oppose the natural order of the world. Because of this, accusations of sodomy were frequently used as tools to defame or delegitimize political opponents. As sodomy was viewed as a lustful sin which anybody may fall prey to, nobody was safe from accusations of sodomy, and because of the seriousness of such accusations, they were an incredibly powerful weapon to use against political opposition.

Premodern female homoeroticism

Benedetta Carlini (1590-1661) was one of the only women whose homosexual activities were documented. Benedetta was a nun, later an abbess, in Pescia, Italy, where she experienced many visions which she believed to be messages from God. They culminated in a vision which directed her to decorate the church in preparation for a marriage ceremony, in which Benedetta would be married to Christ. Following this event, there was an investigation which determined her visions to be true. A second investigation was later conducted between which determined her visions to be false and uncovered a sexual relationship between Benedetta and another nun, Bartolomea. The relationship was revealed during interviews between Bartolomea and the investigators, in which she gave detailed descriptions of their encounters, which took place over several years. She described how Benedetta would be possessed by an angel during the encounters, and claimed to have been forced to participate. Benedetta was imprisoned in the convent for 35 years until she died, while Bartolomea appears to have been punished to a much lesser degree.

Same-sex relationships between women have not been as well-documented as male homosexuality. There are very few existing references to the prosecution of women for homosexuality, as opposed to the prevalence of prosecutions for male homosexuality. There are several theologians who wrote on the topic of homosexual activity between women. The sources tend to agree that female homosexual acts constitute as sins, but disagree on specific points, resulting in a wide variety of beliefs. These ranged from classification of female homosexuality as a sin against nature — "in which the sexual act was directed solely at pleasure and did not permit procreation" — to the complete opposite, classifying them as fornication, or sins of lust that were not unnatural.

Although same-sex attraction and relationships did occur, the term lesbian was not in use until the 20th century, and earlier discussions of same-sex attraction between women approach the topic from a "radically different" framework than in the modern era. In some areas, such as France, women were punished under sodomy, while in others, such as England, they were not. There was also further debate about what constituted sodomy between women, such as medical texts which posited that only women with particularly large clitorises could commit sodomy, in order to make up for the lack of a male participant. The most common views tended to constitute the idea that women's same-sex relations were a problem specifically when it defied gender roles, allowing a woman to assume the role of a man. The existence of independent lesbian desire which is commonly accepted in the modern era was not possible to understand in this framework.

The European view of sex could be described as phallocentric, as the male sex organ was considered to be central to the act of sex. From this perspective, sexual acts between women only existed to substitute for a lack of availability of sexual relationships with men. Pre-modern European society tended to have the view that women were more susceptible to promiscuity than men, as they were considered to be more lustful than men. Accusations of witchcraft, which often included allegegations of seduction by the devil, sometimes to the point of intercourse, were much more common than accusations of sodomy between women.