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People with a History
An Online Guide to
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans* History
Site Maintainer: Paul Halsall
©1997


Contents:
Section II: Medieval Worlds

Go to the following pages for other parts of People with a History

Chapter 5: Early Christianity

There is no area of discussion about homosexuality which is more contentious than the interrelationship of Christianity and homosexuality. The whole issue is irretrievably bound up with modern concerns because of Christianity's continued importance. On one hand there are conservative Christians who insist that modern Christian hostility to gays has a continuous tradition and that this is a good thing. On another hand the notion that Christianity caused homophobia was very important to early gay scholars working to explain gay oppression. But it has also turned out to be the case, in the United States at least, that the phenomenon of gay churches has been so successful that in almost every area they are the largest GLB organizations. LGB Christians have been unwilling to surrender the comforts of their faith and LGB Christian scholars, seeking to find a space for themselves in their past have challenged the orthodoxies of both conservative Christians and radical gays.

There is no doubt that Christian writers in every century have voiced criticism, sometimes virulent and obscene criticism, of homosexual activity and of "homosexuals" or other gender transgressive groups. The counter to this has not been to deny such voices, but to seek for more positive aspects of Christian history. And there is little doubt that this positive history also exists: even in the virulently anti-homosexual polemic of John Chrysostom, for instance, one finds evidence of entire Christian communities [in Antioch] which were unworried about homosexuality. Even the Bible itself, it turns out, contains "pro-gay" texts.

How much one reads such discussions as "history" and how much as modern theological discussion is an interesting question.

The discussion is now, however, moving beyond these fairly fixed positions. There is now increasing exploration of gender, both homosexual and heterosexual, as an important metaphor in Christian discourse. The person of Christ, a forgiving deity, who bleeds in order to nourish, and whose body is quite literally penetrated on the cross often ends up being described in a variety of "queer" ways: as a mother hen, as a eunuch, as a lover. When Christian writers tried to discuss female sanctity, they repeatedly end up by transgendering, or "queering" as a modern literary "theorist" might say, the holy woman in question: there is no higher praise for a Christian saint than that she has a "male soul in a female body", as Gregory of Nyssa says about his sister Makrina. Startling indeed to those who recognize this as a term for modern lesbianism. And when Christian authors tried to make sense of males in love with a male God, they end up asserting that the male soul is feminine (as indeed it is grammatically in both Greek and Latin), and that it is penetrated by God to bring forth the child of salvation.

These sorts of discussions are not comfortable for either religious conservatives, gay radicals, or even gay Christians looking for gay ancestors. What the discussions are doing is opening up new pathways to an appreciation of the "queerness" of the world's most popular religion.

Discussions:

Texts: Biblical

Texts: Patristic

Websites:

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Chapter 6: Byzantium

One of the oddities Byzantine studies is that it has long attracted homosexual scholars, but virtually none of them have written about Byzantine homosexuality. There may be reason for this - in comparison with the mass of information about Ancient Greek and Roman homosexuality, the thousand years of Byzantine culture is poorly served. Entire classical genres disappeared - plays, satires, secular philosophy. There has been, instead, a legal tradition to explore; rather a lot of monastic regulation; and the occasional comments in elite historiography on homosexual activity by some emperors. John Boswell's Same Sex Unions rather surprisingly (to Byzantinists at least) for a time has made Byzantine liturgical manuscripts a focus of much interest.

But there is considerable room for further exploration. A number of saints lives reveal diverse opinions, and relatively little shock, about homosexuality (usually "andromania" in these sources), but they have not been fully exploited. Some saints lives also discuss homoerotic pairings with little comment. Although certainly not sexually active, it is also common to find Byzantine saints paired with each other in relationships which can be analyzed from the perspective of desire - "friendship" hardly begins to describe what they are about.

Other texts which may yield more are the small number of Byzantine romances now coming under increased scrutiny. It may be thought that hey are about "heterosexuality", but much current scholarship in western literature suggests that this will not be a satisfactory way in which to evaluate them.

Byzantium also supported an important sexual category not common in modern life - the eunuchs who rose to prominence in Church and state. There was even a monastery specifically for eunuchs. Comments on this group, as with any liminal group, help explain a society's gender expectations.

Finally, it cannot be overlooked that ancient texts tend to survive in Byzantine made copies. Which texts were copied, how often, and where are all answerable questions which may yield insight into Byzantine mores. While they did not write much homoerotic literature, they did copy it and, presumably, read it. Why?

Discussions:

Texts:

Weblinks:

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Chapter 7: Latin Christian Middle Ages

Discussions:

Reviews:

Texts: Religious

Texts: Historical

Texts: Literary

Websites:

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Chapter 8: Islam

Islam was the last of the great world cultures to emerge. With regard to homosexuality there are polar contrasts. On the one hand The Qur'an seems to condemn homosexuality unequivocally, on the other Muslim societies have shown a great deal of tolerance. From the sexually explicit poems of Al-Andulus [Muslim Spain], to the sexual comedy of The Arabian Nights, to the ecstatic loving of Sufi mystics, to modern Morocco and Tunisia - the Islamic world looked benevolently on men who love [usually younger] men. In India, according to Richard Burton, it was among Muslims, not Hindus, that homosexual eros was most accepted.

The first thing to note is that in some respects Islam has been the most sex-positive of the great world religions: the Christ and the Buddha were both sexually abstinent, but Muhammad was sexually active with a number of wives, and had children. Sex itself was not a bad thing, nor was abstinence desirable.

This sex-positivity of Islam is a starting point for further consideration. So far, until very recently at least, research does not seem to have gone beyond the basics, nor to have escaped the colonialist gaze. The situation is likely to change.

Discussions:

Texts

Websites:

Chapter 9: Ancient and Medieval Jews

Discussions:

Texts

Websites:

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© 1997, Paul Halsall, halsall@murray.fordham.edu [a picture!]
Note: I read all mail, and keep much of it, but I will not be able to reply to all notes.

Last updated April 13, 2007