Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: dhosek@sif.claremont.edu (Hosek, Donald A.) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Unmarried priesthood etc. Message-ID: Date: 7 Jun 90 03:13:38 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Harvey Mudd College Lines: 65 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , gilham@csl.sri.com (Fred Gilham) writes... >To me, this whole situation illustrates the danger of enshrining an >authoritative interpretation of what we think God is saying to us, >whether he is saying it by the scriptures or by ``tradition.'' The >effect of doing this is that errors get propagated because there is no >easy mechanism to remove them. Another poster referred to priestly celibacy as Catholic doctrine. Nope. It's discipline. There's a pretty critical difference between the two. Not eating meat on Fridays is an example of discipline. Dispensations from this are not infrequent (growing up in Chicago, one would frequently see a notice in the Tribune around March 17th indicating that it would be OK for people to eat corned beef for St. Patrick's day). I think that you're thinking that there's a bit more emphasis on priestly celibacy than there actually is. Chris adds: >[Protestants certainly have the suspicion that celibacy in the RCC is >based on a distrust and/or dislike of sex. However it's unclear to me >that there's any evidence for this. In principle at least RC theology >takes marriage more seriously than Protestant theology, making it a >sacrament which means that it is a way in which God becomes present >among us. A recent book by Elaine Pagels (unfortunately it's at home, >so I don't have the exact title, but it's got the word "Sex" in it) >argues that celibacy was part of the basic Christian lifestyle from >the very beginning. I'm not sure quite what to make of her argument, >but it is certainly not clear to me that the accusation of >neo-Platonic influence is a fair one. --clh] In certain apocryphal NT works, there are some fairly clear indications of the strong belief in the holiness of celibacy in early Christian thought; the following are excerpts from Chapter 2 of The Acts of Paul: Blessed are they that keep the flesh chaste, for they shall become the temple of God. Blessed are they that abstain (_or_ the continent) for unto them shall God speak. ... Blessed are they that posses their wives as though they had them not, for they shall inherit God. ... Blessed are the bodies of virgins, for they shall be well-pleasing unto God and shall not lose the reward of their continence (chastity), for the word of the Father shall be unto them a work of salvation in the say of his Son, and they shall have rest world without end. (quoted from _The Apocyphal New Testament_, edited by Montague Rhodes James. Clarendon Press, Oxford: 1924.) -dh --- Don Hosek "When I was younger, I would throw dhosek@ymir.claremont.edu spitballs at girls that I liked. Now, dhosek@ymir.bitnet I beg and plead for dates. Frankly, the uunet!jarthur!ymir old way was more satisfying."