Book of Gomorrah: An Eleventh-Century Treatise against Clerical Homosexual Practices

Introduction

INTRODUCTION This page intentionally left blank Homosexuality is a problem which North American society has not been successful in resolving. Polarized positions range from demonstrations in favour of "gay rights" and the legal protection of sexual preference to referenda for the repeal of overly liberal legislation and the barring of homosexual teachers from the schools. In often heated debates the anti-homosexual side is frequently characterized by deeply rooted religious attitudes fed by a tradition that is claimed to stretch back to the Old Testament. Throughout history opponents of homosexuality have brought against it the whole weight of divine law, natural law, ecclesiastical law, and criminal law. Today the churches too have entered the debate, particularly in reference to such questions as whether male homosexuals should be ordained to the ministry and whether practising homosexuals should be allowed full participation in the worship of the Christian community. This contemporary social ferment and the simple imperatives of pastoral care have led many to examine the Christian tradition's approach to the question of homosexuality. These studies usually concentrate on four broad areas: (1) biblical teaching, (2) theological and legislative traditions, (3) modern psychological and sociological studies, (4) ethics and the pastoral ministry.* Although one sometimes detects a certain revisionist and exculpatory trend in the discussions of the first two areas, overall they are serious scholarly attempts to come to grips with what the ancient documents were really saying. A proper understanding of the Sodom and Gomorrah story, for instance, is 1 See, e.g., "Episcopal Churchto Launch Study on Homosexuality," Canadian Churchman 102/10 (1976); J. J. McNeil, The Church and the Homosexual (Kansas City, 1976); Human Sexuality: New Directions in American Catholic Thought (New York, 1977); Homosexual People in Society, by The Catholic Council for Church and Society (The Netherlands), trans, by B. A. Nachbahr (New Ways Ministry, 1980). For bibliographical material up to 1968 see M. Weinberg and A. Bell, Homosexuality : An Annotated Bibliography (New York, 1972). 3 4 Book of Gomorrah important not sothat it can be said that those who used it in the past to support censures of homosexuality were misguided but to assure that past uses not be repeated in the future. These exercises in biblical and historical scholarship are not luxuries which the heirs of the Christian tradition may or may not undertake. Christianityisa religion rooted in the Bible and tradition, not simply in the sensethat it has a past but in the sense that it draws its food and nourishment through those roots. Its self-consciousnesstoday and its hopes for tomorrow are fashioned out of a dialogue with the tradition, with what has been handed down over centuries. Frequently this tradition is felt as a heavy burden which inhibits efforts to move in directions which contemporary needs seem to demand. This tradition regarding homosexuality is a classic example of a burden from the past which makes accommodation to these contemporary needs difficult for many. Nothing is to be gained by denying the past, however. What is needed is an understanding of the treatment of homosexuality, the reasonsfor its censures, a dossier of the biblical and ecclesiastical texts which were used to support the censures, and a more accurate interpretation of the sense and purpose of these texts in their own setting. It is only through such studies that the heirs of the Christian tradition will be able to move beyond their history, with self-conscious understanding of the past and a reasoned rejection of some facets of the tradition, toward a new synthesisin response to the demands and insights of today. Unfortunately, historical studies of the early medieval treatment of homosexuality are not numerous, and, until the present, one has had to depend on the general work of Bailey, which covers the whole Western tradition, and a few other studies.2 More recently, the work of John Boswell, whichdeals with the subject up to the fourteenthcentury, isa welcome contribution to this neglected area of study.3 2 Bailey, Homosexuality. See V. L. Bullough, Sexual Variance in Society and History (New York, 1976), 363-64; A. Gauthier, "La sodomie dans le droit canonique medievale," in B. Roy (ed.), L'erotisme au moyen age: Etudes presentees au Troisieme colloque de I'lnstitut d'etudes medievales (Montreal, 1977), 109-22; M. Goodich, The Unmentionable Vice: Homosexuality in the Later Medieval Period (Santa Barbara, CA, 1979). 3 Boswell, Homosexuality. Aside from the stated theme, the...