When Same-Sex Marriage Was a Christian Rite

Bannasidhe

Just happened upon this article discussing Yale historian John Boswell's research into same-sex marriages being performed in Christian churches.

Contrary to myth, Christianity's concept of marriage has not been set in stone since the days of Christ, but has constantly evolved as a concept and ritual. Prof. John Boswell, the late Chairman of Yale University’s history department, discovered that in addition to heterosexual marriage ceremonies in ancient Christian church liturgical documents, there were also ceremonies called the "Office of Same-Sex Union" (10th and 11th century), and the "Order for Uniting Two Men" (11th and 12th century).

These church rites had all the symbols of a heterosexual marriage: the whole community gathered in a church, a blessing of the couple before the altar was conducted with their right hands joined, holy vows were exchanged, a priest officiatied in the taking of the Eucharist and a wedding feast for the guests was celebrated afterwards. These elements all appear in contemporary illustrations of the holy union of the Byzantine Warrior-Emperor, Basil the First (867-886 CE) and his companion John.

http://anthropologist.livejournal.com/1314574.html


Boswell's 1979 is available here: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/1979boswell.asp

Well. Well. Well.

Galvasean

Didn't King Solomon have something like 300 wives as well? So much for 'one man, one woman'.

Pedant

But didn't they burn gay people in Medieval times?

skoomi

I need pro-gay bible quotes. Christians won't believe academic work.

MyKeyG

Galvasean wrote: »

Didn't King Solomon have something like 300 wives as well? So much for 'one man, one woman'.

Solomon wasn't a Christian.

Penn

Galvasean wrote: »

Didn't King Solomon have something like 300 wives as well? So much for 'one man, one woman'.

Best thing I saw on Twitter last night (though I can't remember who said it so can't quote it directly) was:

Mitt Romney holds the traditional view that marriage should be between a man and his seven wives

Bannasidhe

Pedant wrote: »

But didn't they burn gay people in Medieval times?

Not specifically for being Gay. Burnings were for Heresy -witchcraft being included in this broad category. Sodomy didn't become a crime until that bastion of traditional marriage Henry VIII outlawed it in the early 16th century - in the same proclamation he also banned the Welsh from living in England (Fat Hal's daddy Henry VII was Welsh so the mind boggles at what he was thinking there).
Some laws really are unenforceable

Galvasean

MyKeyG wrote: »

Solomon wasn't a Christian.

Strange that he should be upheld as a Christian icon of morality so.

Bannasidhe

Galvasean wrote: »

Strange that he should be upheld as a Christian icon of morality so.

It's a bit like when an Irish person becomes famous they also seem to become 'British' (at least according to Sky News) - when a biblical Jewish person is deemed 'worthy' they become 'Christian'.

robindch

Penn wrote: »

Mitt Romney holds the traditional view that marriage should be between a man and his seven wives

Here's Rush Limbaugh on traditional marriage:

Galvasean

Bannasidhe wrote: »

It's a bit like when an Irish person becomes famous they also seem to become 'British' (at least according to Sky News) - when a biblical Jewish person is deemed 'worthy' they become 'Christian'.

Or Jesus.

Bannasidhe

Galvasean wrote: »

Or Jesus.

And Jesus' Mammy and Step-Daddy and Auntie and cousin John.

sponsoredwalk

I have to say this thread has opened up the floodgates for me. I got this book Pagan Christianity - Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices & coincidentally in the book he's quoting Will Durant whom I quoted in this thread that was the result of reading this thread so I think the wisps of the sands of time are enfolding their majesty over this particular thread in such a way so as to motivate me to ask about the origins of other absolutely ludicrous practices by Christianity that you'd see in everyday life? The one that struck me was how Gregory the Great changed the first-century church meeting from being "a fluid gathering, not a static ritual. And it was often unpredictable, unlike the contemporary church service" to "a blending of pagan and Judaistic ritual sprinkled with Catholic theology and Christian vocabulary. Durant points out that the Mass was deeply steeped in pagan magical thinking as well as Greek drama"".