Gay marriage sounds like an ultra-contemporary idea. But almost twenty years ago, a Catholic scholar at Yale shocked the world by publishing a book packed with evidence that same-sex marriages were sanctioned by the early Christian Church during an era commonly called the Dark Ages.
John Boswell was a historian and religious Catholic who dedicated much of his scholarly life to studying the late Roman Empire and early Christian Church. Poring over legal and church documents from this era, he discovered something incredible. There were dozens of records of church ceremonies where two men were joined in unions that used the same rituals as heterosexual marriages. (He found almost no records of lesbian unions, which is probably an artifact of a culture which kept more records about the lives of men generally.)
Bolstered by this evidence, Boswell published a book in 1994, the year before his death from AIDS, called Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe. The book comes out next month for the first time in a digital edition. It was an instant lightening rod for controversy, drawing criticism from both the Catholic Church and sex pundit Camille Paglia. Given the Church's present-day views on gay marriage, these detractors argued, Boswell's history seemed like wishful thinking.
I mean even The Bible contains one of the greatest love stories of all time that just so happens to be about two men (David and Jonathan). And then you have another gay love story predating that by a lot with The Iliad (Achilles and Patroclus).
Heck, the Greeks had an army that consisted only of men and their male lovers and it was one of the strongest armies of all time! (Sacred Band of Thebes)
Homosexuality (to a degree) was accepted throughout many societies. The only thing is that homosexual marriage was seen as strange. However, having a gay lover on the side was custom.
I know during the times of the Roman empire homosexuality was no big deal.
I find it ridiculous that Christians claim that marriage is a Christian institution when marriages have been around much longer than Christianity. But you know there will always be stupid people.
I knew that in roman times and in greece people were very sexual and it was accepted as a way of life ie prostitutes, same sex..
But I didn't know there were same sex marriages conducted by the church.
