Clerical Celibacy: The Heritage

by William E. Phipps

Overview

The recent sex abuse scandals in the Catholic Church raised new questions about the abilities of a celibate priesthood to deal realistically with matters of sexuality. Critics and journalists who have examined these scandals have called for an end to mandatory celibacy for priests. In this carefully measured but provocative overview, Phipps points out that "mandatory celibacy is relatively new-fangled, having appeared during the last half of the church's existence. The innovation was imposed in the feudal and crusading era, a dark period for the Church." In order to provide this survey, Phipps probes ancient religious texts and church history and uses studies that provide factual assessments of the general individual and cultural consequences of celibacy. He avoids anecdotal evidence about celibacy and offers a balanced exploration by allowing celibate advocates and church representatives to speak in their own voices about these matters.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826418524
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	04/19/2006
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

William Phipps is Professor Emeritus of Religion and Philosophy, Davis and Elkins College. His numerous books on sexual themes in biblical and church history include Genesis and Gender, Was Jesus Married? and Influential Theologians on Wo/Man. He lives in Richmond, Virginia.

Table of Contents

	Timeline for Tracing Celibacy in Christianity	ix
1	Introduction	1
	My Approach	1
	Defining Terms	3
2	The Pre-Christian Era	7
	Jewish Culture	7
	Pagan Cultures	13
3	A Celibate Jesus?	20
	Arguments Pro and Con	22
	His Sexual Orientation	48
4	The Apostolic Era	60
	Paul's Letters	60
	Other New Testament Writings	72
5	The Patristic Era	81
	Movement toward Sexual Abstinence	81
	Monasticism and Jerome	96
	Augustine's Anti-Sex Theology	107
6	The Medieval Era	121
	Roman-Byzantine Schism over Clerical Marriage	121
	Papal Attempts to Put Asunder Espoused Clerics	129
7	From Luther to Paul VI	152
	The Anti-Celibate Protestants	152
	The Counter-Reformation	159
	Vatican II and Aftermath	172
8	The Contemporary Era	188
	John Paul II's Intransigence	188
	Diocese Problems	190
	Abusive Prelates	217
9	Conclusion	237
	The Heritage in Summary	237
	On Imitating Jesus	242
	Moving toward Recovery	250
	Selected Bibliography	267
	Index	269

Editorial Reviews

'This is both a history of the origins and development of clerical celibacy, and a polemic against its imposition on the clergy of the Latin Church. Commendably brief, it covers the background of the Jewish society out of which Christianity sprang, and in which marriage seems to have been virtually compulsory; it explores whether Jesus was married or committed to the celibacy that official Roman Catholicism assumes him to have exemplified; and traces the way in which celibacy became roote in the Latin Church, first as an ideal, and subsequently as a condition for entering and exercising the ministry.' -Robert Nowell, Church Times --Sanford Lakoff "Church Times "

"Clerical Celibacy" is an overview of the development of the teaching and practice of clerical celibacy in Western Christianity. Phipps' position on the Roman Catholic teaching and practice of clerical celibacy is clear: it has no scriptural foundation; it is a medieval 'innovation' based on economy, discipline and power; it breeds contempt of sexuality and corporeality; it has resulted in 'immorality, criminality, and female subjugation, hypocrisy' and as such is 'a basic misunderstanding of the Gospel'. Webb connects recent abuse scandals within the Roman Catholic Church to teaching and practice of clerical celibacy. Phipps offers important insights into the historical development of clerical celibacy in Western Christianity and raises pertinent questions for the Roman Catholic Church today." -"Toronto"" Journal of Theology"

From the Publisher

Protestant scholar Phipps (emeritus, Davis & Elkins Coll.) is, to put it mildly, unimpressed with the Roman Catholic discipline of clerical celibacy, calling it diseased, inhumane, and anachronistic, among other choice adjectives. Admittedly, a chapter on Jesus' purported celibacy is admirably balanced in its careful presentation of arguments both pro and con. But elsewhere, Phipps's hostility impels him to spray the theological battlefield indiscriminately with a fusillade of citations chosen with little concern for context, authoritativeness, or logic, e.g., drawing attention to the misogyny of the Gospel of Thomas without taking into account that it is a Gnostic, not an orthodox, text. Nonetheless, scattered among the flak of over 1200 references are many pertinent historical and theological facts, so a public library without prior holdings in the subject might want to purchase the book along with a work from the other side of the debate.-Charles Seymour, Mabee Learning Resources Ctr., Wayland Baptist Univ. Lib., Plainview, TX Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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