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Introduction In the summer of 2003, the Episcopal Church in General Convention debated the hotly-contested matter of homosexual unions. The debate was intensified in that the Convention was being asked to ratify the election of a bishop for the Diocese of New Hampshire, a man who was living in a committed relationship with another man. In the course of the debate, talking points were used. The following is a brief essay I wrote to help out with some of the talking points. There are those who say that it never occurred to the biblical peoples, and the Church throughout history, that homosexual relations could be faithful and lifelong, and therefore, the Church never thought to bless such relations. It is also, of course, quite possible that the Church never blessed homosexual unions because they were considered wrong. In fact, common sense would tell us that it did occur to earlier Christians to bless homosexual relations because ancient peoples in one religion or another, have blessed just about everything, and the Church has blessed just about everything that isn't sin. Let me develop that. When the Church entered the ancient pagan world, it found sexual relations of every kind -- homosexuality, concubinage, polygamy, marriage, prostitution, and much more. Further, blessing is common to all religions, and it found a wide variety of customs and rites blessing and celebrating these relationships. The Church accepted many customs and elements of religious rites, transformed then by Christian teaching, and used them it its blessing ceremonies. This phenomenon, the blessing of the common life of the people, characterizes religion in general, as well as the Old Testament Hebrew Religion and Christianity in all its forms throughout history. Scripture is full of ancient rites, customs, and beliefs absorbed from surrounding cultures, transformed, and brought under the covenant. Given the fact that the Church encountered sexual relations of all forms, and further, that pagan religions blessed these relations, it was only natural that the Church would do the same. And the Church did, blessing all sorts of habits and customs.(1) But there were limits, and they were and are absolutely critical. 1. The Church always blessed in the name of the triune God and never blessed in the names of various gods as was the ancient pagan custom. 2. The Church did not bless concubinage, incest, polygamy, homosexuality, and adultery. This fact is so evident, so universally recognized that, as far as I know, only one person has ever presumed to think otherwise. John Boswell in his book Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, claimed that homosexual blessings were performed. He, however, has been thoroughly discredited. John Neuhaus sums up the scholarly opinion on Boswell with these words, "Outside the subcultural press, the book has, to the best of our knowledge, received not one favorable notice, and most have been devastatingly dismissive of Boswell's erudition in the service of ideology."(2) Why did the Church resist efforts to bless relationships other than one man and one woman in holy matrimony? -- Because Scripture, the faith, the universal teaching of the Church, has consistently, always, insistently affirmed that the sexual relation is properly that of a man and a woman in marriage. Did it occur to ancient people to bless homosexual unions? It is quite likely. By nature, human beings want to bless just about everything, and the Church has blessed just about everything, as long as it wasn't sin. The evidence for this is overwhelming. 1. Report by the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music n the Blessing of Same-Sex Unions." 2. First Things, December, 1994. See the essay by Neuhaus, pp. 70-84, the section entitled, "The Revolution that Wasn't." First Things has a number of scholarly essays on Boswell, that of Robin Darling Young being one of the best. Her critique is devastating. The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D. September, 2003 |