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From: peter@artsci.toronto.edu
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: no title given
Message-ID: <May.17.03.02.53.1991.28370@athos.rutgers.edu>
Date: 17 May 91 07:02:55 GMT
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Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu

NOTE FOR CLH: (PLEASE PASS ON IF USEFUL)

>that neither word has anything to do with homosexuality.  Only a
>very optimistic person would claim to know for certain what the
>meaning is.
>--clh]

When one considers the evidence fully, there is no need to be as
pessimistic as this.

One might look at a thorough study of arsenokoitai such as:

David F. Wright, "Homosexuals or Prostitutes? The Meaning of
Arsenokoitai (1 COR. 6:9, 1 TIM. 1:10), _Vigiliae Christianae_ 38
(1984) 125-153, E.J. Brill, Leiden.

For the background and culture there are full length studies such
as K. J. Dover, _Greek Homosexuality_ (London, 1978).

The evidence available is not only from ancient texts
contemporary with the Apostolic Writings but also from ancient
art which depict beyond doubt what the words mean.

While the commonest situation in ancient culture indicated by
arsenokoitia was an adult male using a younger male, frequently a
teenager from 12-18, it is clear that Paul's term indicts a
broader scenario than this. The interchangeability between
arsenokoitia and paidophthoria in Greek shows this. Paul's avoids
the term arsenokoitia in Romans 1 and specifies males with males
to indict adult male relationships. This is clear because they
"have abandoned the natural use of the female" which for Paul was
the normal *adult* relationship.

Peter Gentry
University of Toronto