one of the new creeps

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Wed Nov 11 07:15:33 PST 1998


William S. Lear wrote:


>Has anyone else read either of John Boswell's books on the subject of
>homosexuality and Christianity (etc.)? I haven't yet read his earlier
>*Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in
>Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the
>Fourteenth Century* (University of California Press, 1980), but while
>I was living in Boston I read his *Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe*
>(Villard Books, 1994) while riding the subway to work each day.
>
>>From what I remember, Largent's "2000 years of Judeo-Christian
>history" includes such vile intolerance for women (useful only for
>procreation and to serve men, incapable of higher feelings, etc.) that
>the men decided same-sex unions were completely reasonable and
>"natural".

On the other hand, religious opposition to abortion is a relatively new thing, only about 100 years old. Even Catholic doctrine tolerated first trimester abortions until the late 19th century. Funny how recent the vintage of so many timeless truths.

Doug



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