Homosexuality In Latin Christian Sources

Homosexuality in the Christian Bible

The condemnation of homosexuality by the two Testaments is usually clear. However, how to interpret these passages is highly debated.

Old Testament

Book of Genesis

God, alerted by "the complaint against Sodom and Gomorrah , whose inhabitants "were villains who sinned grievously against the Lord , is determined to destroy the city to punish its inhabitants (Genesis 18:20-21 ). After a bout of bargain in which God finally promised to Abraham to spare the city if there are at least ten righteous , then it sends two angels in the city of Sodom where Lot, the nephew of Abraham, s 'was a refugee, with his clan. Lot invites them to stay with him . While one is still in bed, "the house . "

Genesis 19, 5-11: "And they called Lot and said to him:" Where are the men who came in to thee this night? Bring them out to us so that we may know them. . Lot went out unto them on his doorstep, he closed it behind him and said: "Pray, my brothers, do no evil. I offer you two girls who have not known a man, I can get them out to you and you do what you like. But do not do anything to these men as they came in the shadow of my roof. . They replied: "Get out of here! 'And they said: "This guy came in and he emigrated to the Vindicator! We're going to do more harm than them. . They pushed violently and Loth came to break down the door. But the two men shook hands to go to Lot's house, near them. They closed the door, and knocked blind people who were at the entrance of the house, from the smallest to the largest, and they could not find the entry .

Lot and his daughters, oil painting by Hendrik Goltzius , 1616

Yahweh decided to destroy the city and brought out Lot and his family so that, without looking back, they flee to the mountains. Loth asked to take refuge in the insignificant town of Zoar that Yahweh agrees not to destroy .

Genesis 19, 23-29: "The sun rose over the earth and Lot entered Zoar to when the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire. It came from heaven and the Lord. He overthrew those cities, while the District, all urban dwellers and the ground vegetation. Lot's wife looked back and she became a pillar of salt. Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord, he looked upon Sodom, Gomorrah and throughout the District, he looked and saw a smoke rising from the earth as the smoke of a furnace. Now when God destroyed the cities of the District, he remembered Abraham, and he pulled Lot in the heart of evil, when he overthrew the cities where Lot lived .

The request to all the people of Sodom, from children to old people to Lot, "Where are the men who came home that night? Bring them to us so that we knew . "Played a large role in Jewish and Christian interpretation of this story .

The Hebrew verb , transcribed yada ', "know" can express so euphemistic sex . Some commentators believe that this verb does not apply to heterosexual relationships. The Old Testament would use another word to describe homosexual relationships: shakam "sleeping" (See Leviticus 18, 22, 20, 13) . Therefore the verb yada 'mean in the episode of Sodom, "get acquainted" with the foreigners are the angels . However, subsequent history clearly demonstrates a desire for sexual assault . This leads Thomas Rmer and Loyse Hello favor the interpretation that this desire for aggression, then interpreted as a rape, an act of domination and submission would call for a serious breach of hospitality expressing pride the inhabitants of Sodom . Moreover, in the prophetic books of the Old Testament, oracles referring to the episode of Sodom and Gomorrah wilt not sexual assault as such but pride, idleness and hostility towards foreigners. And Ezekiel 16, 49 said: "This is what was the fault of your sister Sodom: pride, satiated, quietly carefree, she and her daughters, but the hand of the poor and the poor, it does not strengthen it . In Jeremiah 23, 14, comes to adultery, falsehood, encouragement of criminals . Deuteronomy 29, 22 refers to idolatry, the worship of false gods . We find the criticism of inhospitality in the apocryphal book of Wisdom of Solomon (19, 13-17) and in the Judean historian Josephus Flavius in the first century AD .

The interpretation of the purely sexual episode of Sodom would have emerged during the confrontation culture with the world Hellenistic Judean around ^the third century BC . Faced practices pederasty and nudity in force in the Greek gymnasiums and sports competitions, the most orthodox religious in Sodom would have seen the symbol of Greek civilization they so hard to accept. You can find this new reading in the Book of Jubilees ^(second century BCE), Chapter 16, in the Testament of Naphtali, Chapter 3, in the Testament of Levi, Chapter 14 . It denounces, indeed, homosexual relations, but also any act of "fornication," that is to say, any sexual act outside marriage and do not open to procreation .

Reading sexual Genesis 19 had a significant impact on society of Christian centuries. Indeed, until the ^eighteenth century, all criminal law treaties recall the episode in the preamble of Sodom, to justify the strict laws against sodomites. Moreover, most treaties of Christian morality will use the same episode to condemn homosexual practices .

Book of Leviticus

In the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament , homosexual unions are explicitly condemned men on two occasions:

1) Leviticus 18, 22: "Thou shalt not lie with a man as one lies with a woman. It is an abomination. "

2) Leviticus 20, 13: "If a man lies with a male as one lies with a woman they were both an abomination: they shall be punished by death: their blood is upon them. "

The term "abomination" (Hebrew , transcribed Toebes, Greek , transcribed bdelugma, Latin abominatio) means in the Jewish Scriptures and Christian :

• any sin , any criminal action in general: Leviticus 18, 22.28.28, Isaiah 41, 24, 66, 3, Jeremiah 6, 15, 7, 10, Ezekiel 5, 9.11; Malachi 2, 11, 1 Maccabees 1, 56. ..
• especially the sin of idolatry : considered prostitution, idolatry is the worship of idols as part of ritual ceremonies and sacrificial: Deuteronomy 12, 31, 2 Chronicles 33, 2 ...
• an idol, a false god : Exodus 8, 28, Deuteronomy 29, 17, 2 Kings 23, 13, Ezekiel 7, 20, 11, 18.21, 1 Maccabees 6, 7 ...
• the desecration of something holy Daniel 9, 27, 11, 31, 12, 11, 1 Maccabees 1, 51 ...
• something object of horror and aversion: Psalm 87, 9; Proverbs 3, 32 ...

The idea seems anathema to cover everything that is forbidden by the Hebrew God, in his desire to separate, to set apart the people whom he is bound. In this context, the homosexual male is treated as a crime fundamentally challenging the covenant of the people with the God of Israel.

Chapter 18 addresses only the active partner, while Chapter 20 considers the death penalty for both partners . This is the homosexual relationship as such is prohibited and condemned, unlike the laws of other peoples of the Middle East, where only the act of violence is withered . In addition, the social status of both men is unclear.

Some scholars, like J. McNeill , believe that the ban on homosexual acts primarily within the fertility cults of Canaan . Jacob Milgrom , followed by others, believe that chapters 18 and 20 of Leviticus refer only prohibited sexual relations within a family group or clan. The prohibition of male homosexuality is therefore intended that men bound by family ties . Finally, other commentators like S. Olyan and JT Walsh , believe that the ban is especially anal sex performed by a man on another man. This interpretation, already given by the rabbinic commentaries, the ban would reveal the gender confusion, a man not to adopt the passive position of women . Thomas Rmer and Loyse Hello confirm that "the issue of the ban is the transgression of boundaries between genres, as indicated by the text itself. Neither masturbation nor female homosexuality are not mentioned because they do not question the active role of the man who must be clearly differentiated from the feminine passivity .

The most orthodox scholars believe that the term "abomination" is sufficient to capture the true horror about the wrath of God. They assimilate, almost without qualification, homosexuality, all other types of abomination described above. If all conservative commentators stress the emphasis clearly disapproving of the passages in Leviticus about homosexual acts, only the most moderate of them are close to historical criticism developed by liberal commentators. So they consider that these legal acts are irrelevant and that homosexuality should be considered more broadly .

Book of Judges

A Levite (that is to say, a minor priest) and his partner return home after spending a few days with the father of the latter in Bethlehem of Judah. To spend the night, he stopped at Gibeah, a city of the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. An old man returning from the fields and their hosts offer hospitality .

Judges 19, 22-24: "While they were comforted, behold, the men of the town, scoundrels, surrounded the house, struck violently against the door and told the old man, owner of the house:" Bring out the man who came to your house so that we know. "The homeowner came out and said," No, my brothers, I beg you, do not commit evil. Now that this man came to my house, do not commit this crime! Here's my daughter who is a virgin, I'll get it out. Abusing her and made her what you like. But to this man you will not commit an outrage of this kind! .

The Levite's concubine book in the hands of men of the city. They are the "know" and the bully during the night and eventually abandon it at dawn. The poor concubine drops at the entrance to the house where the Levite lived . It in the morning and finds the back, inanimate him home. There he cut into 12 pieces, one for each of the tribes of Israel , so they know that the inhabitants of Gibeah "have committed fornication and folly in Israel . . The result is a war against the son of Benjamin, who claimed thousands of victims and led to the destruction by fire of all the towns in the territory, which Gibeah .

This story evokes in many ways the story of Lot in Sodom. Foreigners are welcomed as guests by one of the townspeople. The people trying to assault them sexually. The city was finally destroyed by fire. Also, many patterns and turns of phrase are identical . The sad difference is that the concubine after the rape of a long night dies. What is at issue here is the violence and brutality of the attackers who gravely offend the duty of hospitality . It could also renew here the comments of the story of Lot in Sodom.

To conclude the discussion on these two accounts, one wonders why the authors chose to illustrate the condemnation of pride and denial of hospitality by two stories featuring a scene of an attempted rape by men of men . The answer probably lies in the concepts of domination and power of the ancient Near East . Some texts (particularly in Egypt and Mesopotamia) mention, in fact, sodomy in the military context, to deprive the vanquished of their honor and dignity of men ('male') . Thus the act of sodomy is a manifestation of power and submission of the person violated . Finally, these two stories illustrate how the rape of men by other men was far more intolerable than that of women, be they girls or concubines.

First and second books of Samuel

Princes biblical Jonathan and David. Towards 1300.

David , the future king of Israel, first met Jonathan , the son of King Saul at the end of a battle . From the first, their relationship seems strong and intimate :

1 Samuel 18, 1-4: "Now, when David had finished speaking to Saul, Jonathan David clung to and loved him as himself. That day, Saul kept David and did not let him return to his father. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. Jonathan took off the coat he was wearing and gave it to David and his clothes, and even his sword, his bow and his belt .

The symbolic and political act that seems very strong: from being stripped, Jonathan waives his future throne in favor of David . It should be noted a discrepancy with the Assyrian vassal treaties: they make extensive use of the word "love" to describe the relationship between two kings equal or love as the vassal owes to his king, he is here to an inverse relationship. A prince falls in love with a stranger . It is thus established an alliance, a pact between all special David and Jonathan which seeks to protect his friend:

1 Samuel 19, 1-2: "Saul said to his son Jonathan and all his servants of his plan to kill David. However, Jonathan son of Saul, loved David. Jonathan told David, "My father Saul, he said, trying to kill you. Stand on your guard tomorrow morning, remains safe and hide .

To ensure the safety of David, Jonathan David promises to prevent malicious intentions of Saul and David and a promise to his house to stay loyal to the ruling royal family, that is to say to himself and its descendants:

1 Samuel 20, 16-17: "And Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David:" (...) and ask the Lord to David, or rather to its enemies! . Jonathan was still sworn to David in his friendship for him, because he loved him as himself .

Later, when Jonathan succumb, with his father Saul, on the battlefield, David exclaims:

2 Samuel 1, 26: "What trouble I have for you, Jonathan my brother! I loved you so much! Your friendship was a wonder to me more beautiful than the love of women .

The Hebrew root khaphets is given by the Ecumenical Translation of the Bible with "much love". Yet this term marks a very strong relationship of ownership that is more for things than people . In the case of a person's attraction to another, it carries in the Old Testament, of a sexual nature (cf. Genesis 34, 19, Deuteronomy 21, 14). The Greek translation of 1 Samuel 19, 1 makes this term , transcribed erao, "desire, love" . Moreover, the root khaphets, more than the word `ahab," love "involves a physical and unconscious . In addition, the relationship between David and Jonathan is also described by the verb qashar "tie, bind, indicating a strong attachment, a lifeline, a deep love . Finally, where David laments the death of his friend, he does not use the word "friendship" as the Ecumenical Translation makes the Bible but the word "Ahava" Love ", the same he uses to talk the love of women , the same that describes the relationship of the Beloved and the Beloved of the Song of Songs (Song of Songs, 2, 5: `holat ahava ani:" I'm sick of love " ). In this final tribute, David first expressed his feelings for Jonathan .

It is difficult to know the exact nature of the relationship between David and Jonathan. Their bond reminiscent of Mesopotamian hero Gilgamesh and Enkidu . The relationship between David and Jonathan has several dimensions: personal, political, religious. These two characters, moreover, are married and have kids. The biblical story in itself, remains ambiguous .

Regardless of its interpretation, with reference to the story that the association and David Jonathan , host Christian movement of homosexuals, has selected its name and has served since its founding in 1972 .

The rejection of the sacred male prostitution

Several passages in the Old Testament books mention the existence of sacred prostitutes male, connected to a temple in Israel:

Deuteronomy 23, 18-19: "There will be no sacred harlot of the daughters of Israel, there will be no sacred prostitute (Hebrew transcribed gr. transcribed lat. among the son of Israel. You will never bring into the house of the Lord your God, for a votive offering, the gain of a prostitute or the wages of a "dog" (Hebrew , transcribed Keleb, gr. , transcribed Kunos, lat. canis), because both the other one, they are an abomination unto the Lord thy God .

1 Kings 14, 22-24: " Judah did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord (...). Like these, they built in their use of high places, gravestones and sacred poles on every high hill and under every green tree, and there was even sacred prostitutes (Hebrew - , transcribed gam Kadesh; gr. , transcribed sundesmos; lat. effeminati) in the country, they acted according to all the abominations of the nations the Lord had dispossessed before the son of Israel .

1 Kings 15, 11-12: " Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as David his father. He eliminated the country's sacred prostitutes (Hebrew , transcribed qedeshm; gr. , transcribed Telet, lat. Effeminatos) and removed all the idols which had been manufactured his fathers .

1 Kings 22, 45-47: Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel. The rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, the feats he performs, his wars, that is it not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? He swept the country the last sacred prostitutes (Hebrew , transcribed Kadesh, lat. Effeminatorum) that remained in the time of his father Asa, .

2 Kings 23, 5-8: "He removed the priesthood as the kings of Judah had made to burn incense on the high places of Judah and around Jerusalem. It also eliminates those who burned incense in honor of Baal, the sun, moon, constellations and all the host of heaven. He carried the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem in the Kidron ravine, the sacred pole that burned in the ravine of Kedron, and he reduced it to ashes and threw it to the grave. He demolishes the homes of sacred prostitutes (Hebrew , transcribed qedeshm, gr. , transcribed kadsim, lat. Effeminatorum) who were in the house of the Lord and where women wove dresses for Asherah. He brought the cities of Judah all the priests, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Beer-Sheva Geva up. He demolished the high places of the doors (...) .

Job 36, 13-14: "As for the ungodly hardened in their anger, not pray to them, when it binds them. Their existence is extinguished in their youth and their life ends among prostitutes (Hebrew , transcribed qedeshm, gr. , transcribed aggelon, lat. Effeminatos) .

We see in these passages, the same Hebrew word Kadesh (plural: qadeshm) is translated in various ways by the Septuagint Greek (porneun " .

The root of the word Kadesh , transcribed QDSH, refers to the separation of the secular . This suggests the idea of separation seal along the contact between two spaces, which may at any time, exchange, communicate, rotate, swap their contents . root is itself derived from the primitive form , QD transcript, which means "divide," "cut" . Everything that is related to the idea of holiness (acts) of the sacred (things) evokes the idea of separation and all that is separated is preserved from the stain and, therefore, pure ^, . Whatever the context, the consecration is, therefore, by means of purification achieved by a series of rites . The two acts of consecration and purification are related to such an extent that one can clearly separate the two concepts . Consecration is a sacrificial act of separation .

To clarify this situation, we must refer to the ancient Mesopotamian societies . In them, sexuality is not a taboo or a sin . It is part of social behaviors that manifest themselves differently depending on social status . Homosexual relations, the transvestite will always be a passive partner and the aristocrat will always active . We must distinguish here two types of people with homosexual behavior, which are not socially recognized in the same way: first, sex workers (kurgarr Akkadian, Assyrian assinnu) of the goddess Ishtar (goddess of love pleasure and fertility), form part of its clergy. They are gay "professionals" . We find their traces in the biblical texts as the "dogs" (Deuteronomy 23, 19) . But this term is not necessarily pejorative: a priest can be appointed and, recalling that qualification fidelity to God in the image of the dog to his master . Are also integrated into the social hierarchy, they occupy the bottom of the ladder . On the other hand, men belonging to the same hierarchy fully visiting prostitutes Ishtar or have a relationship or passenger side, all socially accepted behaviors. The verse from Deuteronomy indicates that there were many prostitute (s) Sacred (e) s in Israel . They were probably appointed by the Hebrew word Kadesh qadeshim "holy, consecrated" . The male prostitutes were also called "dogs" . The condemnation of prostitution mentioned in the sacred scriptures cited above, indicates the rejection of all worship of gods other than the Hebrew god Yahweh or Yahou . This is not only to remove the sacred male and female prostitution and its "institutions" but also the high places, poles, sacred stones, idols, the sacrifices of incense in honor of the gods of heaven, etc.. Anything that is linked to these cults is an "abomination .

New Testament

Gospel of Matthew

Inveighed against the city of Capernaum in Galilee , located on the shores of Lake Galilee, Jesus compares the situation with the city of Sodom in ancient Judea , located near the Dead Sea. According to Jesus Christ, the sin of Capernaum, which has not acknowledged and accepted, is worse than Sodom

Matthew 11: 23-24: "And thou, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? Thou shalt be brought down to hell, for if the miracles that have been made in your walls, had been done in Sodom, it remained standing until this day. Besides, I tell you, there will be a day of reckoning, less de rigueur for the land of Sodom than for you. "

Epistle to the Romans

The Apostle Paul, Rembrandt 1635

In chapters 1-4 of his Epistle to the Romans , Paul of Tarsus is trying to demonstrate the universality of sin . Faced with this ever-present sin, the Gospel calls "the righteousness of God through faith for faith . Paul of Tarsus condemns idolaters: so that the "invisible things of God & # 1 60, "are manifested in his creation, he had not known, glorified, thanks. Moreover, he began to worship images of men or animals . Instead, it has further aggravated what Paul of Tarsus as a judge of deviance .

Romans 1, 24-32: "Therefore God gave them, through the lusts of their hearts (gr. transcribed lat. impurity ( gr. transcribed lat. where they degrade themselves their own bodies. They exchanged the truth of God against the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever. Amen. Therefore God gave them over to degrading passions (gr. , transcribed pathe atimias, lat. Ignomini passions): their women exchanged natural relations for reporting against nature (gr. , transcribed tn phusikn chrsin eis para phusin, lat. usum in eum usum naturalem which is contra naturam); men as well, giving up natural relations (gr. , transcribed tn phusikn chrsin, lat. naturali usu) with women and were inflamed with desire (gr. , transcribed orexei, lat. desideriis) for each other, committing the infamous (gr. , transcribed aschmosunn, lat. turpitudinem) man to (gr. , transcribed, lat. in) their rights and receiving in person the just reward for their error (gr. , transcribed Planes, lat. ERROR). And since they did not see fit to keep the knowledge of God, God gave them over to their intelligence without trial: thus do they do what they should not. They are filled with all kinds of injustice, wickedness (gr. , transcribed ponria, lat. Malitia fornicatione), greed (gr. , transcribed pleonexia, lat. Avaritia), malice (gr. , transcribed kakia , lat. nequitia), full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, depravity (gr. , transcribed kakotheias, lat. malignitate), blasphemers, slanderers, haters of God, provocative, arrogant, boastful, ingenious evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, without loyalty, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's verdict declaring worthy of death those who commit such actions, they do not confine themselves to perform them but approve those who commit them .

Paul of Tarsus interprets the situation here in the manner of the idolaters of the story of Exodus ( Old Testament ) that illustrates the relationship of the Pharaoh of Egypt with the Hebrews. Instead of preventing Pharaoh to accomplish his purposes to the people of Moses , Yahweh hardened his heart more so that it leaves the fugitives from . According to Michel Quesnel, God rushes advancing towards death becomes possible for a new beginning ^, . And indeed, Paul of Tarsus, in this passage from the Epistle to the Romans, used repeatedly, the vocabulary of the passions that combines the idea of disgrace, dishonor, unworthiness. However, passion implies the idea of passivity. Men and women appear to condemn Paul of Tarsus could no longer control himself, as if a force more powerful than themselves possessed them. The text seems to suggest that this is the very action of God who delivers the idolaters to impurity. Nevertheless, this passage from the Epistle to the Romans shows how idolatry is directly associated with homosexual men and women. The act of worship, or idolatry, figures of creatures, instead of worshiping the Creator, leading the Gentiles to hurt the laws of nature which God is the great organizer. Losing the natural use of their sex, they also lose their intelligence, their personal morality and social virtues of loyalty, affection and compassion. That is why they commit evil, untruthful, arrogant and greedy.

Epistle to the Corinthians

William-Adolphe Bouguereau. Dante and Virgil in Hell (1850)

Paul of Tarsus , speaks in this epistle to the church of the Christians of Corinth. According to another work by the New Testament , the Acts of the Apostles 18, 1-17, he founded this community. Corinth is located at the junction of Greece and the Balkan Peninsula Plopponse. She had, in Roman times, from 52500 to 87000 people . Corinth was, in the ancient , disreputable . Among the Greeks, , transcribed korinthiazomai meant "I live in libertine" . In the theater , transcribed Korinthiasts is the kind of debauched . The Roman poet Horace said: "Everyone can not go to Corinth" because it required a lot of money . The Corinthians especially venerated the goddess Aphrodite that served more than thousand sacred prostitutes . It is within this context that Paul reiterates the condemnation that awaits sinners:

1 Corinthians 6, 9-10: "Do not you know that the unrighteous (gr. lat. will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither fornicators (gr. , lat. Fornicarii), nor idolaters, nor adulterers (gr. , lat. Adultery), nor effeminate (gr. , lat. Stools), or those who sleep with men (gr. , lat. masculorum concubitores), nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. "

The translations vary in different terms referring to homosexuality. for words' and , the Bible makes it "depraved" and "people of infamous morals", the King James Bible (1910) makes it "effeminate" and "infamous" Darby Bible makes it "effeminate" and "abusers of themselves with men," the Ecumenical Translation of the Bible makes it "effeminate" and "homosexuals."

Gold (transcribed malakos) within the meaning of the term, opposes (transcribed Sklerose: "dry, hard"). It means "soft, soft." Figuratively, it means "sweet, pleasant," and "easy, complacent." In a bad sense, its meaning is "soft, lifeless" and consequently, (opposing transcribed karterikos "steadfast, patient, hard to evil, persevering"), "soft, effeminate" . The translation of the Latin Vulgate, mollis, along the same lines: "soft, tender," "soft, stretching, which is becoming scarce," "soft, delicate, soft touch," "mild, peaceful, "soft, delicate, softened by the delights or pleasures," "soft, cowardly, lazy" and finally "immodest, effeminate." The dictionary of sacred philology that give the definitions, added: "These are lewd, or those who corrupt themselves, or those who prostitute themselves with others of the same sex. Latin: Catamiti, pathici. The Glossarium Eroticum Linguae Latin is even more clear: it gives mollis following meanings: "pathicus, patient in pdicatione (" liability on sodomy ")," pdico ("sodomite / homosexual"), "effminatus, libidinosus ("effeminate, debauched") . The same quote also Glossarium doctor latin Clius Aurelianus surprised that the possible existence of homosexuals: "Soft sive subactos Malthacos vocaverunt Graeci, quos quidem esse nullus virorum easy credit. Non enim ex hoc natura humanos venit in mores, sed pulso pudor, etiam libido indebiti partes obscnis usibus subjugavit. "(" No man thinks easily as soft or "subject" called "Malthakos by the Greeks exist . This word is composed of , transcribed arren (or , transcribed arsen), "male human" and , transcribed Koite, properly "layer", especially "marriage bed", where "intimate relationships" and bad hand "libertinism" . We can translate the entire word literally "one who has intimate relations / libertine with a man." Besides the Latin of the Vulgate masculorum concubitores, "those who lie with men" makes very good sense. The dictionary of sacred philology defines concubitor masculorum and "sodomite, abominable."

This juxtaposition of words ' and may suggest that, for Paul of Tarsus, there is a difference between these two terms. The former refers especially men gentle, sensitive, shy, impulsive and which, therefore, does not comply by their attitudes and behavior, the requirements of such manly hardness, patience, perseverance, courage, love of women. The second term expresses more directly than men who have sex with other men. It is also possible to think that Paul of Tarsus is simply the distinction between passive homosexuals (those who, according Clius Aurelianus, submit the "same parties undue First Epistle to Timothy

Similarly to the previous letter in the first epistle to Timothy , Paul of Tarsus provides a list of "unfair" and sinners. He puts homosexuals alongside all those opposed to the "sound doctrine".

1 Timothy 1, 8-11: "The law, indeed we know, is good insofar as it is taken as law. In fact, understand this: the law is not for the righteous, but for people rebellious and disobedient, ungodly and sinners, unholy and profane, and parricide matricides, murderers, fornicators (gr. , transcribed pornois, lat. fornicariis) pederasts (gr. , transcribed arsenokoites, lat. masculorum concubitoribus), slave traders, liars, perjured persons, and everything contrary to sound doctrine. That is the gospel according to the glory of the blessed God, entrusted to me .

For this passage, one can refer to the comments of the preceding paragraph. to translate the word, the Bible and the NIV gives "homosexual", the Darby Bible gives "abusers of themselves with men," the King James Bible gives "infamous", and Chouraki Bible gives "homosexuals."

Apocalypse

This passage from the New Testament book of the Apocalypse is located at the very end of the book. He who proclaims himself "the Alpha and the Omega, the first and last, the beginning and the end" coming soon announces that he and his compensation . Emerges then the reward of those who "wash their robes, and the punishment of sinners:

Apocalypse 22, 14-15: "Blessed are those who wash their robes in order to qualify for the tree of life, and enter through the gates in the city. Outside dogs (gr. , transcribed Kunes, lat. Glucans) and magicians, immodest (gr. , transcribed pornoi, lat. Impudici) and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices falsehood " .

Again we therefore presented a list of sinners who can not enjoy the Hereafter. We note the word "dogs" which appears isolated in this list. It is possible that this word refers to "sacred prostitutes" with which it is clearly associated in the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, chapter 23, verse 19. Moreover, if one refers to the preceding paragraph concerning the sacred male prostitution, it should be noted that this qualification was similarly applied to male prostitutes sacral Mesopotamia. Finally, the word "dogs" is linked in this passage, among others, after , transcribed pornoi which means "poached" or people who "prostitutes , that is to say every person having sex outside marriage. But the passages quoted above from the first epistle to the Corinthians or the first epistle to Timothy also united in their list of sinners, "poached" and those who may think they are gay.

Homosexuality in the Fathers and Doctors of the Latin Church

Homosexuality in the Church Fathers

The condemnation of homosexuality is often linked with the Fathers of the Church , the Biblical story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, cities that symbolize the most sinful desires perverse.

Quintus Septimus Florens Tertullianus says Tertullian (150/160-230/260) was a theologian Latin writer, one of the Latin Fathers of the Roman Catholic Church, past the Christian movement Montanist at the end of his life. According to him, the passions that lead to homosexual acts are not only sin is to say, voluntary and deliberate acts contradicting the divine law, but features that do not belong to human nature and thus exclude of every ecclesial community .

Aurelius Ambrosius, "said Ambrose of Milan (340-397), was bishop of Milan and one of the Latin Fathers of the Roman Catholic Church. He judges the legitimacy of homosexual acts with reference to the episode of Sodom and Gomorrah . This allows him to establish a hierarchy of dishonorable acts: rape of Lot's daughters is less serious than the rape of male guests, because the first still belongs to the order of nature .

John Chrysostom or John at the mouth of Gold (344/349-407) was patriarch of Constantinople and one of the Greek Fathers of the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine. Sodomy is an act in his infamous soul that hurts more than the body, which removed the man from his human nature and place in the hierarchy of beings below animals without minds (the thugs). This is also a promise of hell just like the one caused by the punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah. Its origin is the search for pleasure and forget the fear of God .

Augustine of Hippo, the Lateran Cathedral in Rome, ^sixth century

Aurelius Augustinus, "said Augustine of Hippo (354-430), was bishop of Hippo , Annaba , in present Algeria and one of the main Latin Fathers of the Roman Catholic Church. He said that God had punished Sodom by a rain of fire shows how homosexual acts fall into the condemnation condemnatory of God . These acts violate human nature created by God and break the covenant between God and humanity. They are reprehensible in themselves, even though they are universally applied . Besides staining Lot chose female bodies rather than its male guests .

Gregory ^I , called the Great (540-604) was ^the 64th pope, doctor and one of the Latin Fathers of the Roman Catholic Church. According to him, the punishment of Sodom by sulfur and fire shows by analogy the stench and the filth of the flesh and its desires perverse .

Homosexuality among theologians and Doctors of the Latin Church

Peter Damian (c. 1007-1072) was first led by his vocation as a hermit in the monastery Camaldolese Cast Villani, where he became Prior. In 1058 he was created Cardinal -Bishop of Ostia. He wrote in 1051 , the Liber Gomorrhianus ("Book of Gomorrah" at the Roman Catholic Pope Leo IX ), a book in which he denounced the vices of the clergy and especially homosexual practices of some of its members. In 1823 , Pope Leo XII declared him a Doctor of the Church. According to Peter Damian, homosexual practices offend human nature, right reason, the presence of the Holy Spirit in the soul and reveal a demonic possession . They are the worst of all vices. These practices open the gates of hell . They grow to revolt against God, separate angels away from virtue and gnaw the soul in secret. They force us to live in hypocrisy and wasted human dignity .

Alain de Lille (c. 1120-1202) was a scholastic philosopher and theologian, known as the Having spent many years in England ( 1148 - 1189 ), he exercised, then, his theological education at Paris , then in the south of France, in Montpellier. He became a monk Cistercian at Citeaux and was sent as missionary to the Albigenses ^, . Before 1148 , Alain de Lille had left for England in the entourage of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He was struck in 1168 and under the pretext of sodomy, a sentence of banishment to Wearmouth. There he wrote, from 1168 to 1172 , his book Liber de Planctu Naturae (or Enchiridion or Tractatus de natura rerum contra Sodomiae vitium), "The Book of the Complaint of Nature," in which he gives Long portrait and exposes the long speeches metaphysical and moral nature, nature. It combines the features and functions cosmic moral of the latter and leads from one to another by referring to matters of love. Natura, instituted vicar of God, calls forth life and directs the field of love, reproductive and permanence of species by means of its laws that are concomitant, the divine laws. Now Venus , proclaimed subvicaire of Nature, has betrayed the divine plan from its union with legitimate Hymenaeus (marriage) to the arms of her lover Antigamus (the anti-marriage). Natura revolts against love that particular s opposes it, homosexuality ^, , because Venus had destroyed "the multitude of shipwrecked men," making "of them they" emasculated by the men: "The kind of sex is active brings shame and horror of falling into the genre and liabilities. Homosexuality "hermaphrodite" is losing men by making them play the role of both sexes. Feminine beauty is despised, deprived of any fruit.

Thomas Aquinas, stained

Peter the Chanter (c. 1130-1197) was a scholastic theologian, professor of theology at the Cathedral School of Paris (before 1173), grand champion of the cathedral of Paris in 1183. It almost became Bishop of Tournai in 1191 and had declined the high office of Bishop of Paris in 1196. In 1197 he was appointed dean of the chapter of the Cathedral of Reims. He died on the road that led to the city of Champagne, in the monastery Cistercians of Longpont at Soissons, which he took the habit just before his death . In his Summa seu Verbum abbreviatum vitiis Virtutibus and (abbreviated Word or Sum of vices and virtues "), he devotes an entire paragraph to" Vice sodomite. " Pierre Le Chantre associates it with murder. He considers these two sins are equivalent (paribus) and the two largest (maxima) are those whose "cry went up from the earth towards the Lord." "Homicide and destroying sodomites and kill them . Because of this, God that by patience and kindness, the punishment is different from other sins, penance for not waiting but he punishes sodomites upon the world by sending fire from heaven which consumes all the flame of hell. This interpretation was often repeated, until the ^fourteenth and ^fifteenth centuries, especially in urban and princely laws .

Thomas Aquinas (1224/1225-1274) was a religious philosopher and scholastic theologian belonging to the mendicant order of Dominicans. He was canonized in 1323 , recognized Doctor of the Church Roman Catholic in 1567 and nicknamed the Doctor Angelicus. Pope Leo XIII declared him "Common Doctor" of the Roman Catholic Church in 1880 , and the patron of universities, schools and academies Roman Catholics. For Thomas Aquinas, sodomy is a mortal sin against nature . Now a mortal sin "leads to the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is to say the state of grace. If not redeemed by repentance and forgiveness of God, it causes exclusion from Christ's kingdom and the eternal death of hell, (...) . This is the worst sin in the kind of lust which "concerns, by definition, which violates the order and measure of reason in the sexual sphere . Offensive nature, it is a grave insult against God, its order . Sodomy is a graver sin than the sin of bestiality . Indeed, it turns man away from the purpose God has assigned to the sexual union is procreation and .

Homosexuality in Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a Benedictine nun in the Rhine region of Germany, abbess of the Abbey Disibodenberg in 1136 , founder of the Abbey Rupertsberg in 1147 and that of Eibingen in 1165. She said receiving visions since childhood, she recorded in his visions Scivias (Latin Sci vias Dei, "knows the ways of God"), completed in 1151 or 1152. There are also among his Liber vitae meritorum or Book of the merits of life (1158-1163) and Liber divinorum operum or Book of divine works (1163-1174). According to Hildegard, the fact that a man adopt feminine gentleness and behave like a woman with another man or that for a woman, copy function manly by uniting with another woman, makes them, to Eye of God "dirty, dark and luxurious, horrible, unpleasant." This is an alteration of masculine and feminine natures willed by God and calling into question 'the right institution of husband and wife . What constitutes this "outrageous crime", is the behavior to be "transport . "The use against nature, either with men or with women, thus depreciating the" right kind of man. " "Sin shameful and perverse," he established the power of the devil in their hearts, he whose "hatred original" it "was the fertility of the woman" led him to "make it produce .

Homosexuality in laws and ecclesiastical discipline Latin

The Latin councils

The sixteenth council of Toledo in Spain , of 693 states in paragraph 3: "The progress of Sodoma necessitates the enactment of severe penalties. If any bishop, priest or deacon is guilty of this sin, he will be deposed and exiled forever. In addition, the old law under which the sinners of this species are excluded from all intercourse with Christians, were shamefully beaten, stripped of their hair, and exile, continues to remain in force. If they have not done sufficient penance, we shall not, at the death bed, give them communion . "

The text reflecting the general synod of Reims , in France , under Pope Leo IX in 1049 described the canon 12: "We spoke then of excommunication against sodomites and against the new heretics who appeared in Gaul, and also against all who would accept them or charge a service or who would defend them . "

The Synod of London in England , of 1102 states: canon 28: "Sodomy is struck with excommunication. "And the canon 29:" Every Sunday we proclaim the sentence of excommunication throughout England .

In January 1120, the Council of Nablus , in the Frankish kingdom of Jerusalem (now the West Bank ), decreed: Chapter 8: "If any adult has been found to have deliberately contaminated the disruption of Sodom, both actively and passively, that it is completely burned. "Chapter 10:" If someone has suffered a first sodomite crime and that he hid, he was left dirty again and that he did not face the Justice, where it has been recognized, it is deemed Sodomite. "Chapter 11:" If a Sodomite, before being accused has repented and, led by penance, he renounced by oath to this abominable lewdness, whether received in the Church and found according to the award of Canons. But he fell back into this . "

At the third Council of Lateran , Rome, Italy, in 1179 , we meet for the first time the sentence will designate, in subsequent documents, homosexuality, in connection with the destruction of Sodom : Canon 11: "(. ..) Those that we recognize the suffering of incontinence which is against nature, because of which the wrath of God comes upon the son of distrust and consumed the cities by fire, will, if they were clerics, expelled from the clergy and forced to do penance in the monasteries; If they are secular, they are subject to excommunication, and they are cut off from the congregation .

The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 , issues a barrel, the ^14th, the question of incontinence of the clergy in general. This gun is designed to improve their chastity and ordered to refrain from any defect in the inordinate desire (ab omni libidinous vitio) and "particularly, that due to which the wrath of God comes from heaven upon the son of mistrust." The clerics have been suspended for their incontinence and who celebrated, despite this, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass will be deprived of any ecclesiastical benefice and deposited perpetually .

Reading these guns thus shows that the sin of sodomy was punished very severely:

• the cleric was suspended from his office, ousted from the clergy, exiled or imprisoned in a monastery.
• the layman was excommunicated, that is to say he could not receive sacraments (minor excommunication) and / or was denied burial in hallowed ground and contact with other faithful Catholics (minor excommunication) . The oldest gun kept the previous measures of corporal punishment and humiliation.

The penitential medieval Latin

We limit ourselves to two examples: the penitential of Columbanus of Luxeuil and that of Burchard of Worms. The sin of sodomy is ranked among the gravest sins, along with the homicide. It is punishable by a penance of three to ten years. A cleric or monk who has engaged in this sin must suffer humiliation, imprisonment and banishment temporary.

Columbanus of Luxeuil

Colomban de Luxeuil (540-615) is an Irish missionary monk who participated in the renewal of Christianity in Gaul , in Germany , in Helvetia and Italy. One can cite notammer the foundation in 590 of Luxeuil-les-Bains in Haute-Saone.

"If someone committed a sin in fact among the most important sins, if he has committed a homicide or the sin of sodomy, he does penance for 10 years, if a monk has committed adultery only once, he does penance for 3 years if it was more often, for 7 years (...) "(...) . "

Si quelqu'un a forniqu comme l'ont fait les Sodomites, qu'il fasse pnitence pendant 10 ans, trois au pain et l'eau, et pendant les 7 autres, qu'il s'abstienne de vin et de viande, et qu'il ne reste jamais plus au mme endroit que l'autre (son partenaire) pour toujours . "

Si un lac a vraiment forniqu selon la manire sodomite, c'est dire s'il a pch avec un homme l'exemple du cot avec une femme, qu'il fasse pnitence pendant 7 ans, les trois premires annes au pain, l'eau, au sel et aux fruits secs du jardin, les quatre annes restantes, qu'il s'abstienne de vin et de viandes et ainsi que sa faute soit efface, que le prtre prie pour lui et ainsi qu'il soit reli l'autel . "

Le de Burchard de Worms

Burchard de Worms (v. 965-1025), fut vque de Worms et auteur d'un recueil de droit canon en vingt volumes, le ou .

(Extrait du Pnitentiel de Thodore) Un femme forniquant par quelque moyen, soit avec elle-mme, soit avec une autre, qu'elle fasse pnitence pendant trois ans . "

(Extrait du mme pnitentiel) Si une religieuse a forniqu avec une autre religieuse l'aide de quelque instrument, qu'elles fassent pnitence pendant sept ans . "

(Extrait du concile d'Ancyre, chapitre 8) Une femme, si elle a forniqu avec une autre femme, qu'elle fasse pnitence pendant trois ans. Et celle qui mlange le sperme de son mari sa nourriture, pour recevoir par l plus d'amour, qu'elle fasse pnitence de mme . "

(Extrait du Pnitentiel de Thodore) Celui qui a forniqu comme un Sodomite, s'il est esclave, et s'il a t chti par le balai, qu'il fasse pnitence pendant deux ans, s'il est libre et mari, dix ans, s'il est un simple particulier, sept ans. Le lac mari, s'il a une telle habitude, qu'il fasse pnitence quinze ans. S'il est dans les ordres, et s'il a une telle ha In addiction, it is so degraded it to do penance as a layman. Whoever, on the other hand, has committed adultery with a natural brother, because if a dirty mixture, to refrain from all meat, and he does penance for fifteen years, and is clerk It must be, in addition, driven . "

The Benedictine monastic rule

The rule of monastic Benedict of Nursia , founder of monasticism Benedictine began to be written around 540. It does not directly allude to homosexual practices but ensures that they are avoided in the monastery .

The Decree of Gratian

Gratian was born at Chiusi in Tuscany. He was a learned monk Benedictine convent of St. Felix at Bologna ( Emilia-Romagna current, Italy) . He undertook in 1127 a new collection of canons of the Latin Church he entitled Concordia discordantium canonum ("Concorde discordant canons), better known as the Decretum Gratiani (" Decree of Gratian "). His work was published in 1141. The Decree of Gratian became the basis of canon law, for eight centuries until 1917 , the date of enactment of the Code of Canon Law. Regarding the issue of sodomy, Gratian refers to Ambrose of Milan , Augustine of Hippo , and Jerome Stridon , says St. Jerome. The main idea is that "dishonorable actions against nature are recognized as more serious , even more serious than fornication and adultery : Gratien class incest with sodomy, fornication, bestiality , whose penance is framed by "a period of seven years" .

The Magisterium of the Roman pontiffs of the sixteenth ^century

Pope Pius V.

Pope Leo X , in the constitution Supern signed on 5 May 1514 , devotes a separate paragraph to sodomites. He updates and the penalties that they incur already, both in canon law in civil law :. 35: "If someone, in truth, both as a secular cleric, was convicted of the crime that caused the wrath of God comes upon the son of distrust, be punished by the penalties imposed respectively by the sacred canons or civil law . "

His successor, Pope Pius V published two constitutions which is referred to the sin of sodomy. Its main purpose is to permit the sodomites are now delivered to the secular authorities in order that they be applied to penalties under civil law, that is to say the death penalty . The first constitution, Cum primum, signed on ¹ April 1566 , contains a number of 'orders regarding the observance of divine worship in the churches and the observance of holidays, "but galememnt renewal of convictions against the sinners : simony , blasphemers, sodomites (holders of "the abominable vice of desire . "The second constitution, following the first, horrendum illud scelus, signed in September 1568 , more particularly the clerics and condemns those of them convicted of sodomy to be degraded, relieved of any benefit or ecclesiastical office and be delivered to the secular power in order to be punished the same punishment as that of the laity: "This appalling crime because Cities which defiled and degraded were burned by the dreaded Judgement of God, we mark the cruelest pain and stirs our soul so heavily, we devote our full attention, as much as possible to stop it. ( ...) 3.. We deny ourselves, by the authority of this canon, all the priests, and what are they, and other secular clerics and regulars, some degree or dignity that they are practicing a horrible crime, any clerical privilege, and any expenses, dignity and ecclesiastical benefice. Thus, following this, degraded by the ecclesiastical judge, they are delivered immediately to the secular power, .. "

The Code of Canon Law of 1917 Roman Catholic

The Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church promulgated by Pope Benedict XV in 1917 and was used until 1983. Concerning the laity, he said the gun No. 2357. . 1: "The laity legitimately convicted of crimes against the sixth commandment, committed with minors under sixteen, or rape, sodomy, incest, incitement to prostitution are infamous for doing so, in addition to other penalties that the ordinary judge about inflicting . About the clerics, the code notes to the gun No. 2359. .2: "If they commit an offense against the sixth commandment with minors under sixteen years, or practiced adultery, rape, bestiality, sodomy, prostitution or excitement to incest with his kin or allies in the first degree, they should be suspended, declared infamous, deprived of all offices, benefits, dignity or office they might have, and in severe cases they must be deposited .

The so-called "punishment of infamy" was extremely serious because it involved the "total or partial loss of the good reputation of honest men" and included the disqualification of ecclesiastical offices and perform functions of confidence such as "sponsor at baptism and confirmation" or "arbitrator" .

Review doctrinal sources

In his commentary on the constitution of Pope Pius V , horrendum illud scelus, the jurist and lawyer Lyon Matthew Stone summarizes the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church of his time (end of XVI ^century) about sin of sodomy. It uses all sources at its disposal: the Christian Scriptures, Civil Codes Roman jurists various awards rabbinic philosophers and theologians, etc.. After recalling the existence of sodomy during the long Greco-Roman and barbarian , Peter Matthew says that the teaching of Christ "revealed the horror of this crime, was illuminated. He has now purchased the laws . Matthew Stone then develops the temporal and spiritual penalties by which "the divine and human laws against this sin ignite ": 1) the infamous" Is there indeed anything more shameless, infamous and shameful that the Sodomites themselves . "5) contempt," the sodomite is continuously scorned by God as .

We see, therefore, homosexuality is clearly condemned both in women than in men . But anal sex is particularly stigmatized. Indeed, even between a man and a woman ^, , it is regarded as degrading, impure, violating the order of nature and offending God himself, his officer. The former Christian doctors use as an argument, and systematically, the episode of the book of Genesis featuring the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. According to them, the sin of sodomy is so serious that it caused God to exercise, in this life, his trial, his conviction and punishment so that the visible ruins of the two cities retain the memory of their mortal sins, and recall the fate God reserves for those that offend human nature carries the divine law.

The basic idea is that human sexual union can not be divorced from the possibility of procreation. Sodomy has long been considered, with the homicide as an extreme form of human perversion. Just as the killing ends a human life, a "vice sodomite", preventing any generation, is detrimental to reproduction and therefore the continuity of mankind. On the other hand, by undermining the distinction between genres manly (activity, strength, courage) and female (passivity, weakness, softness, softness), it triggers a movement capable of challenging, ultimately, the separation between the divine and human, threatening, thereby, the authority, transcendence and holiness of God. It is conceived as a total threat to the community for its very life and the divine punishment that she is incurring. Thus, in 1497 , during the epidemic of plague in Venice , the Ten characterized the crime of sodomy the craziest, the most infamous of sin, evil desire . The seriousness of the killing and sodomy is reminiscent, in the biblical tradition, infertility is also associated with the idea of divine curse .

References