Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe

Description

At a time when strictures against homosexuality are the subject of impassioned debate, this groundbreaking work of scholarship has generated extraordinary controversy. For in Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe, Yale historian John Boswell, one of our most respected authorities on the Middle Ages, produces extensive evidence that at one time the Catholic and eastern Orthodox churches not only sanctioned unions between partners of the same sex but sanctified them—in ceremonies that bear striking resemblance to the heterosexual marriage ceremonies. Title Page Preface Contents List of Abbreviations Introduction 1. "What's in a Name?": The Vocabulary of Love and Marriage 2. "For Family and Country": Heterosexual Matrimony in the Greco-Roman World 3. "A Friend Inspired by God": Same-Sex Unions in the Greco-Roman World 4. "This World is Passing Away": Views of the New Religion 5. "What God Has Joined Together": The Development of Nuptial Offices 6. "Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds Admit Impediments": Comparison of Same-Sex and Heterosexual Ceremonies of Union 7. The History of Same-Sex Unions in Medieval Europe 8. "Those who see and those who do not…": Subsequent Developments: A Look Forward Epilogue Appendix of Translations Appendix of Documents Jewish Perspectives Manuscripts of the Same-Sex Unions The Passion of SS. Serge and Bacchus Index