John Boswell

[Daniel]

The man should be considered the patron saint of all gay persons. He did more than any other scholar in getting the ball rolling and addressing homophobia in the church.

I came upon one of his addresses this evening. It encapsulates the main points in his tome, Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1980)

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/1979boswell.html

Ah....the guy made my heart soar when I was younger. His words set me free.

[wmanion]

I loved this especially the part where he says that God teaches us how to love and that we do not teach God how to love. I find this true, not just in Christianity, but in every religion that tries to define God. He is undefinable and his love is undefineable. It is amazing that acceptance was there at one time and gives hope that it will be again.

Bill

[tdogg]

Thanks for sharing the Boswell piece Daniel! I admire him greatly, he is an excellent writer and an amazing historian. I intend to pass this piece along to others. Great commentary!!!

[Dash]

Thanks for this, Daniel. I was fascinated by this bit from Boswell's address...

Originally Posted by Boswell

Paul says again and again that we must not fall back on the bondage of the old law, and in fact goes so far as to claim that if we are circumcised (the cornerstone of the old law), Christ will profit us nothing. The early Christians were not to bind themselves to the strictures of the old law. The Council of Jerusalem, held around 50 A.D. and recorded in Acts 15, in fact took up this issue specifically and decided that Christians would not be bound by any of the strictures of the old law except for which they list - none of which is related to homosexuality.

It seemed to call for a little more study. From the account of the Council of Jerusalem:

Originally Posted by Acts 15

"Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses."

The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."

James gives the following judgment...

"It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.

And this was the letter sent to the Gentile Christians:

"The apostles and elders, your brothers, To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings. We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell."

Now, the first thing I want to know is, "what is the original Greek that has been interpreted broadly as sexual immorality (NIV version)?" As it turns out, the word is "porneia," the basic definition of which is generally listed as "fornication." Now, in American usage, the meaning of "Fornication" is often bloated out of all recognizable proportion to include anything but missionary position coitus between a legally married man and his wife. However!...its unlikely etymology is actually rooted in prostitution and ancient architecture. It is derived from the Latin word fornix--the word for arch--and the famous, many-arched Roman buildings whereunder prostitutes often vended their ancient wares. (see discussion here: Nine Words (and a fish) You Thought You Knew).

Studylight.org indicates that Strong's Greek Lexicon gives the following meaning :

1. illicit sexual intercourse
adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals etc.
sexual intercourse with close relatives; Lev. 18
sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman; Mk. 10:11,
2. metaph. the worship of idols
of the defilement of idolatry, as incurred by eating the sacrifices offered to idols

Another search of Strong's Greek Lexicon however returns only the following entry:

porneia por-ni'-ah from 4203; harlotry (including adultery and incest); figuratively, idolatry:--fornication.

I usually fall back on the Tools and Lexica provided at the Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University. From the Liddell-Scott Greek-English Lexicon provided there, Porneia is rendered:

porn-eia , Ion. porn-eiê , hê,

A. prostitution, etc.; of a man,; fornication, unchastity,
II. metaph., idolatry

I feel fairly confident at this point that "porneia" basically means "prostitution" (fornication=prostitution=porneia), but I think it would be good to check the ol' Septuagint (abbreviated "LXX")--the first translation of the Hebrew Testament...translated into Greek...the same Greek that would have been familiar to the writer(s) of Acts.

A search of the LXX for "πορν" (the greek letters Pi, Omicron, Rho, Nu--or "porn") returned 81 results from Genesis to Nahum. Excepting a few instances that baffled me completely (sometimes the verse numbers don't match up to our modern translations) the word "porneia" and its variants refer plainly to prostitutes and prostitution. In the later prophets the concept of prostitution is used heavily in a figurative manner referencing idolatry--but still...prostitution.

In Acts 15, a group of believers belonging to the party of Pharisees demanded that Gentile Christians have their foreskins removed and obey the Law of Moses. The Pharisee's hypocritical attempt to bind the Gentiles to a law that they themselves could not keep was opposed firmly by Peter. James' judgment regarding the Law of Moses was to enjoin only three things upon the Gentiles: pollution by idols, blood, strangled animals and prostitution. All of these things might perhaps be related, as all seem to be in the realm of pagan worship practices...but why speculate...

My point is... Many straight Christians and many gay Christians fuss over laws and Biblical expectations regarding same-sex love and relationships. This issue should have been closed in the very first century of the common era. As Peter said, no one could keep the law then...why should anyone be expected to now. The Council of Jerusalem believed that no one should make it difficult for believers who are approaching God, and the Law was a burden they need not bear.

Epilogue...

Above, you might note that Studylight.org references Leviticus 18 in its definition of "porneia". Leviticus 18, is the infamous chapter that includes a long list of sexual laws--including the notorious clobber passages used against gay people. In actuality, neither the word nor any variant appears in Leviticus 18!!

Playing fast and loose with the Bible text makes Baby Jesus cry!

[andrewlittle]

Very nice work, Dash. I enjoyed reading it and applaud the scholarship involved.

The problem I have found in this kind of endeavor is that the anti-LGBT crowd uses soundbytes, while we have to use scholarly discourse. Most people stop reading after the first few lines, preferring easy to digest snippets of "truth", whether or not they qualify as such.

I am trying to learn how to distill this kind of learning into smaller, easier to understand pieces that can be heard by the multitude. That seems easier to me than trying to teach the general populace to be intelligent and reflective. (Oops, my bias is showing.)

[Dash]

Originally Posted by andrewlittle

Very nice work, Dash. I enjoyed reading it and applaud the scholarship involved.

The problem I have found in this kind of endeavor is that the anti-LGBT crowd uses soundbytes, while we have to use scholarly discourse. Most people stop reading after the first few lines, preferring easy to digest snippets of "truth", whether or not they qualify as such.

I think you are absolutely right, Andrew. As a matter of fact, this kind of simple work once inspired cries that I was undermining the Word of God.

And, even among our friends, I'm fully aware that this kind of post will cause eyes to glaze over, but it is nice nonetheless for me to record the work somewhere.

I am trying to learn how to distill this kind of learning into smaller, easier to understand pieces that can be heard by the multitude. That seems easier to me than trying to teach the general populace to be intelligent and reflective. (Oops, my bias is showing.)

I vote for video! ...a montage of prostitutes throughout the old testament with the greek text playing coyly across the screen: a muscular Judah sees the disguised Tamar and thinks shes a prostitute...two cute Israelite spies visit the sultry house of Rahab in Jericho...a sweaty Samson visits a jewelry-draped prostitute in Gaza...the wise (and shirtless) Solomon renders judgment in the case of two prostitutes with one child...

[dsdrane]

Originally Posted by Dash

I vote for video! ...a montage of prostitutes throughout the old testament with the greek text playing coyly across the screen: a muscular Judah sees the disguised Tamar and thinks shes a prostitute...two cute Israelite spies visit the sultry house of Rahab in Jericho...a sweaty Samson visits a jewelry-draped prostitute in Gaza...the wise (and shirtless) Solomon renders judgment in the case of two prostitutes with one child...

Oooooooo, if the Israelite spies look anything like the present-day Israeli army soldier boys, sign me up!

[BrentRichards]

A search of the LXX for "πορν" (the greek letters Pi, Omicron, Rho, Nu--or "porn") returned 81 results from Genesis to Nahum.

So let me get this straight (!) ... you were searching the Septuagint for porn? I wouldn't think that would be the best place to look.

[keltic63]

Originally Posted by BrentRichards

So let me get this straight (!) ... you were searching the Septuagint for porn? I wouldn't think that would be the best place to look.

and yet......he found it!

[Dash]

In MY day, all we had for porn was ancient Greek texts...I couldn't read Greek, of course, and even if I could've read it, it wasn't erotic at all...

...but it was all I had, and I LIKED it!

Harrumph!!


(Works better if you say it in an old man voice...)

[u-dog]

Originally Posted by Dash

In MY day, all we had for porn was ancient Greek texts...I couldn't read Greek, of course, and even if I could've read it, it wasn't erotic at all...

...but it was all I had, and I LIKED it!

Harrumph!!


(Works better if you say it in an old man voice...)

I was always more visually aroused, myself, and had to make do with the pictures on the sides of pottery vessels. Some of that stuff was pretty hot!

[keltic63]

Originally Posted by u-dog

I was always more visually aroused, myself, and had to make do with the pictures on the sides of pottery vessels. Some of that stuff was pretty hot!

pottery vessels??? man you had it good!


all we had were some drawings on the cave wall. and they weren't that detailed.

[BrentRichards]

Originally Posted by keltic63

pottery vessels??? man you had it good!


all we had were some drawings on the cave wall. and they weren't that detailed.

You lived in a CAVE? We DREAMED of living in a cave! We lived under a pile of damp moss in the forest, and ...

[Daniel]

Originally Posted by Dash

Now, the first thing I want to know is, "what is the original Greek that has been interpreted broadly as sexual immorality (NIV version)?" As it turns out, the word is "porneia," the basic definition of which is generally listed as "fornication." Now, in American usage, the meaning of "Fornication" is often bloated out of all recognizable proportion to include anything but missionary position coitus between a legally married man and his wife. However!...its unlikely etymology is actually rooted in prostitution and ancient architecture. It is derived from the Latin word fornix--the word for arch--and the famous, many-arched Roman buildings whereunder prostitutes often vended their ancient wares.

Dash- Here's a link that references 'porneia' in the context of the apostle Paul, gay marriage and 'True Union'. I think Boswell might have approved.

The writer is a friend of mine btw.

http://jintoku.blogspot.com/2007/09/true-union-1.html

The ambivalent nature of “one flesh”

When we turn to Paul’s other reference to this text we are on similar ground, at least as far as his concern with unity in the church as the body of Christ. But in 1 Corinthians, Paul does not see “one flesh” as an ideal, but as something to be avoided, at least when expanded in a certain direction: “Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, ‘The two shall be one flesh.’” (6:16) His concern is with “fornication” (porneia) — which whatever the alleged breadth of meaning elsewhere, here clearly refers to prostitution. (The range of meaning alleged for porneia will be a topic for another time.)

In any case, it is clear from this passage that Paul understands “one flesh” to be a result of sexual congress, not of marriage. It is in this case precisely “fleshly” (a relationship with a prostitute lacking all that true human union should entail, precisely because it is transactional rather than relational) and in this context has no place in the spiritual life of the church. (Here Paul is consistent with his usual use of “flesh” in a negative sense, as opposed to the Spirit.) It is also remotely possible that Paul is alluding to another common meaning for porneia — as a metaphor for idolatry; however, it appears the primary concern here is with actual, not metaphorical, harlotry.

The lesson we can take from this is that union of flesh is, from this Pauline perspective, morally neutral. It is good between a married couple, but not between a prostitute and her client. It is, thus, the context of the relationship (the fullness of unity of body, mind and heart in mutual joy and companionship) that determines the moral status of the act which engenders the “one flesh,” not the merely physical act itself.

Earlier posts by the author on this topic are here...

http://jintoku.blogspot.com/2007/09/pro-creation.html

and here.....

http://jintoku.blogspot.com/2007/08/...sion-lies.html

One might actually start at the last link here- and work one's way up - thus getting the full effect.