Pāvila Slazds: Vai Pareizi Tulkojam Vēstuli Romiešiem 1:18-32?: Paul's Trap Do We Read Romans 1:18-32 Correctly?
Romans 1:18-32, and, more specifically, 1:26-27, is a central New Testament text in forming the Church's attitudes towards gays. This study proposes that this is a misunderstanding and misuse of these texts on at least two grounds: First, we are probably misreading Paul's references in 1:2...
| Published in: | Cel̜š |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | Latvian |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
LU Akadēmiskais apgāds
2009
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| In: |
Cel̜š
Year: 2009, Issue: 59, Pages: 51-66 |
| Further subjects: | B
Theological Education
B ANAL sex B Gentiles B HETEROSEXUALITY B Bible. Romans B Paul, The Apostle, Saint B CASTRATION B Jewish Christians B WOMEN'S sexual behavior |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | Romans 1:18-32, and, more specifically, 1:26-27, is a central New Testament text in forming the Church's attitudes towards gays. This study proposes that this is a misunderstanding and misuse of these texts on at least two grounds: First, we are probably misreading Paul's references in 1:26, 27, and, secondly, we apply this text contrary to Paul's use of this text in the context of Romans 1-4:25. The misreading in verses 26 and 27 comes from the influence of modern attitudes and interests, contrary to the concerns of the first centuries of our era, both in Jewish and Christian communities. Up to the 5th century, Christian commentators of these verses, including, for example, St. Augustine, did not apply them to what we today would term homosexuality or lesbianism. The preponderance of textual evidence, both from the time of Paul and in later centuries, concerns the sexual activities around and in worship of mother goddesses in the temples of Cybele, Artemis, Astarte, Aphrodite, Mithras, and the mystery cults in general. The heterosexual activities of cross-dressing, anal sex, castration, the role of the galli, and so on, are a much more obvious reference. If we add to this a number of internal exegetical considerations, the evidence seems compelling. But the real weight of the misuse of these texts today is in the context in which Paul uses what could be termed a typical list of Gentiles' sins. This "list" is part of Paul's address to Jews or Jewish Christians in 1-4:25. It is placed in this address to "ambush" his self-satisfied and self-assured Jewish readers, who clearly know and disapprove of Gentile shortcomings, but fail to see that their own accusatory and judgmental stance is as great, or even greater, sin of idol worship than that of the Gentiles' idolatry. It is "idol worship" because judgment belongs to God alone, and putting oneself in God's place must constitute a shocking instance of the worship of idols-the worship of oneself! Paul again and again proposes his theme-all have sinned, all have received grace, but the pride of one group ("the weak") or the superiority of the other ("the strong") fails in the basic rule of "receiving each other in Christ". Do we, today, think that the sins in 1:18-26 are more significant than our sins of judging others on the basis of 1:18-26? Do we think that moral failures or sexual abuses are a greater sign of idolatry than our judgment of those failures? In that case, we are also caught in Paul's trap. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Cel̜š
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