The Works of John Boswell

[Gregory_de_Bois]

Anybody want a peanut?

Actually, putting aside the Princess Bride, I was going to ask if anybody had read his works or heard of him. Here's a link to some stuff:

John Boswell (http://home.aol.com/DrSwiney/great.html)

Namaste,

Greg

[Daniel]

Greg- I couldn't get the link to work. He's one that I've been to often.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/index-bos.html

Boswell's tome, Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980), was the first book I read relating to gay sexuality and biblical matters. It fairly blew me away. Not a touchy-feely book by any means, it got me thinking about a lot of things. I'm just sorry that Boswell did not live long enough to benefit from the treatments that have kept people alive the last 10 years. As part of a whole generation of men who died of AIDS, he left us much too soon. We can only imagine what he would have written had he lived. But I like to think that he would still be setting people's hair on fire. He did when the book came out.

[Gregory_de_Bois]

Greg- I couldn't get the link to work. He's one that I've been to often.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/index-bos.html

Boswell's tome, Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980), was the first book I read relating to gay sexuality and biblical matters. It fairly blew me away. Not a touchy-feely book by any means, it got me thinking about a lot of things. I'm just sorry that Boswell did not live long enough to benefit from the treatments that have kept people alive the last 10 years. As part of a whole generation of men who died of AIDS, he left us much too soon. We can only imagine what he would have written had he lived. But I like to think that he would still be setting people's hair on fire. He did when the book came out.

Like all saints, he did leave too soon. But he actually is one of the ones who inspires me to study Church History. I mean, think of the consequences of what he found. If the Early Church did in fact have SSU, boy would the Right be mad.

On a completely other note, I just read Religion Gone Bad. I am terrified. I used to think I didn't have to worry about the Religious Right having a ton of power, 'cause I thought they were too nit-picky about the little stuff to get anywhere (i.e. baptism, predestination, evolution v. creation, YEC v. OEC, and the likes).

[Dash]

I read his book The Marriage of Likeness: Same Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe last year. His texts are remarkably dense; as much of half of each page is devoted to footnotes and detailed commentary on his already substantial content.

I keep thinking I need to add this one, and the CSTH to my shelves. They are not the sort of books one can read, return to the library and recall at a moment's notice.

[Gregory_de_Bois]

I read his book The Marriage of Likeness: Same Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe last year. His texts are remarkably dense; as much of half of each page is devoted to footnotes and detailed commentary on his already substantial content.

I keep thinking I need to add this one, and the CSTH to my shelves. They are not the sort of books one can read, return to the library and recall at a moment's notice.

Yeah. The reviews I was reading on that book said that it has not gained much attention due to the inability of most to read it. It was written primarily for academia (many of whom rejected it) and it is hard for others to read. I really want to get a copy of it.

[Daniel]

I really want to get a copy of it.

Good book. Got my copy (gave my last one away) at Abebooks- which is a great resource. I looked and saw that they have one available.

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=829249498&searchurl=bsi%3D120%26sortby%3D2%26an%3Dboswell%25 2C%2Bjohn%26y%3D20%26x%3D31

His work it like a dense chocolate cake. You eat a bite and savor the taste before taking another one.

[Gregory_de_Bois]

His work is like a dense chocolate cake. You eat a bite and savor the taste before taking another one.

Mmmm... That reminds me of Christian Bobin's The Very Lowly. It's a meditation on the life of St. Francis of Assisi.

Here are some delicious, savoury quotes:

The Bible is the only book made of air.

Very few words are exchanged in a day, really very few. Perhaps we only fall in love in order to begin to speak. Perhaps we only open a book in order finally to begin to hear.

Hmmm...:love:

[BrentRichards]

I have read Social Tolerance and have Same-Sex Unions in my "to read soon" pile. He is not really all that accessible if you aren't accustomed to a more academic writing style... definitely not "skimming" material. The more conservative elements in the church history world just kind of ignored his work, and since it didn't translate to the general public well, it's taken a long time to have an effect. I still think he'll turn out to have been one of the most important thinkers on the topic this century.

[SEGrether]

I agree, I did a presentation on Christianity and Homosexuality for my AP world history project and purchased Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality. It was dense and I haven't gotten all the way through it, but I found quite a few websites that paraphrase/excerpt some parts. On one hand it is great to see something so well researched out there for those of us who are interested enough, but I wish he would have made an "Idiot's Guide" version before he passed. This is the kind of stuff we need to break down and present to the common person.

I'm personally in love with the story of St. Bachus and St. Serge. I want to see if I can find a poster of that painting somewhere.

For those of you who are interested, there is another decent book... I don't have the author in mind right now... but the book is called "The Church and the Homosexual." It's still academic, but less dense than Boswell's work.

[BrentRichards]

I agree, I did a presentation on Christianity and Homosexuality for my AP world history project and purchased Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality. It was dense and I haven't gotten all the way through it, but I found quite a few websites that paraphrase/excerpt some parts. On one hand it is great to see something so well researched out there for those of us who are interested enough, but I wish he would have made an "Idiot's Guide" version before he passed. This is the kind of stuff we need to break down and present to the common person.

I'm personally in love with the story of St. Bachus and St. Serge. I want to see if I can find a poster of that painting somewhere.

For those of you who are interested, there is another decent book... I don't have the author in mind right now... but the book is called "The Church and the Homosexual." It's still academic, but less dense than Boswell's work.

Yeah, an "Idiots Guide" to Boswell would be nice.

Are you referring to John McNeill's book, "The Church and The Homosexual?" ... I agree it's quite good, though a bit dated. Much more accessible than Boswell.

Two of my favorites that are more easily digestible are Robin Scroggs "The New Testament and Homosexuality" and Jack Rogers fairly recent "Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality." Very readable, very compelling. I just ordered three more copies of Rogers ... I give them away and can't hold on to one for long.