John boswell christianity social tolerance and homosexuality
Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Start of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century
Now, I have absolutely no challenge with books with agendas. I very much love reading persuasive writing. But I find the claim that one is merely being scientific (and if the science happens to agree with my personal agenda, what a coincidence!) to be disingenuous.
The book has a scholarly appearance and copious footnotes, but the author engages in a great deal of interpretative gymnastics with regard to Scripture, Christian tradition, and especially history. This is revisionism of the most age
Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality
The landmark book that launched the field of gay and lesbian studies
John Boswell’s National Book Award–winning study of the history of attitudes toward homosexuality in the early Christian West was a groundbreaking work that challenged preconceptions about the Church’s past relationship to its gay members—among them priests, bishops, and even saints—when it was first published in The historical breadth of Boswell’s research (from the Greeks to Aquinas) and the variety of sources consulted make this one of the most extensive treatments of any single aspect of Western social history.
This edition offers a new foreword by leading queer and religious studies scholar Mark D. Jordan&#;that reminds current readers, scholars, and students that&#;Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality is still fiercely relevant. This landmark book helped form the disciplines of gay and gender studies, and it continues to illuminate the origins and operations of intolerance as a social force.
The Boswell Thesis
Reviews
&#;The Boswell Thesis is a timely and remarkably coherent collection of essays that demonstrate the extraordinary impact of John Boswell&#;s Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality. Elegantly written, thoroughly researched, and thought provoking, these papers will be appreciated by anyone with an interest in the history of sexuality, the history of religion, and, of course, everyone who found Boswell&#;s ideas to be such a revelation.&#;--William N. Bonds, emeritus, San Francisco State University
William N. Bonds | William N. Bonds
"Anyone concerned with the study of medieval sexual attitudes and behavior will find this attractive and well-chosen collection of essays intellectually provocative and stimulating."
James A. Brundage | Catholic Historical Review
"An overwhelming strength of The Boswell Thesis is the undeniable cohesiveness of the collection. . . . If the reader leaves the collection wanting more, it is not for lack of comprehensiveness. Rather the essays prove so easily digestible and consistently engaging
Few books have had the social, cultural, and scholarly impact of John Boswell's Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality. Arguing that neither the Bible nor the Christian tradition was nearly as hostile to homoeroticism as was generally thought, its initial publication sent shock waves through university classrooms, gay communities, and religious congregations. Twenty-five years later, the aftershocks still reverberate. The Boswell Thesis brings together fifteen leading scholars at the intersection of religious and sexuality studies to comment on this book's immense impact, the endless debates it generated, and the many contributions it has made to our culture.
The essays in this magnificent volume examine a variety of aspects of Boswell's interpretation of events in the development of sexuality from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages, including a Roman emperor's passion letters to another man; suspicions of sodomy among medieval monks, knights, and crusaders; and the gender-bending visions of Christian saints and mystics. Also included are discussions of