GENDER AND SEXUALITY: Issues Flashcards
Celibacy in the Christian tradition
Marriage is a sexual, social and emotional union
Celibacy is choosing to live the life of a single person in order to devote oneself completely to God
By the time Matthew was writing, celibacy was seen as a deliberate religious choice: ‘there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven’ (Jesus in Matthew)
What was marriage a sign of in the Early Church?
Leaders were expected to marry as a sign of moral responsibility
From the 4th century, what was celibacy seen as?
A higher calling than family life
The Orthodox Church and clerical marriage
In the Orthodox Church, priests can’t marry after their ordination. Bishops can’t be married.
There is pressure in the RC Church to end the rule of celibacy due to shortage of people offering themselves for ordination
Protestant Evangelical Churches and clerical marriage
Many of these prefer their clergy to be married. They argue that a celibate man fails to live up to the biblical requirements for a church leader to be the husband of one wife and have an orderly family life
What does St Paul say about marriage?
Marriage is a concession to those who can’t remain celibate
Marriage for the Catholic Church
A sacrament- a physical act that causes a change to the souls of the two involved
Raising a Christian family was a vocation but a vocation inferior to living a celibate life
Marriage for the Protestant Church
A family seen as God’s blessing upon the union of husband and wife
Marriage a ‘worldly thing’ (Luther)
Divorce for the Catholic Church
Since 2 individuals become ‘one flesh’ in marriage, divorce isn’t possible
A marriage can’t be dissolved in the eyes of God and the Church
If divorcees re-marry, they are excluded from Holy Communion
A marriage may be annulled if there is evidence that a marriage wasn’t sacramental in the first place
Divorce for the Protestant Church
Marriage isn’t a sacrament so can be dissolved
The end of a marriage shows the couple have failed to live up to god’s standards for personal life
Jesus appears to allow divorce a s result of marital unfaithfulness
The re-marriage of divorcees is possible if they admit their failure
Until the end of the 1950s, what did Churches regard homosexuality as?
A sin- periodt
Catholic tradition on homosexuality: Tendencies and acts
In Catholic theology, homosexual tendencies and feelings aren’t in themselves sinful, but gay acts go against the principle of NML so are sins- the conception of children is the ‘final aim’ of sex
Celibacy as a response to homosexuality
Some argue that someone with gay tendencies should be required to remain celibate/a trans person should learn to live with a divided sense of gender
Interpretation of biblical texts by the LGBT community
Some texts have been interpreted to illustrate positive aspects of their experience e.g. David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi’s relationship
Homosexuality and the Old Testament
God as creator= god has made gays the way they are so should be accepted
‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does a woman; that is detestable’- Leviticus
