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The Appropriation of Pauline Sexualities in the Homilies of John Chrysostom

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The Appropriation of Pauline Sexualities in the Homilies of John Chrysostom THE APPROPRIATION OF PAULINE SEXUALITIES IN THE HOMILIES OF JOHN CHRYSOSTOM by LAMBERTUS PETRUS MARX submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the subject BIBLICAL STUDIES (NEW TESTAMENT) at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: PROF. C.L. DE WET OCTOBER 2017 DECLARATION Student number: 765-909-1 I declare that THE APPROPRIATION OF PAULINE SEXUALITY IN THE HOMILIES OF JOHN CHRYSOSTOM is my own work, and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. ………………………………………… …………………………………………………. SIGNATURE DATE L.P. MARX 1 SUMMARY Throughout the ages historical text criticism has been used to study texts of ancient authors of Christian ethical values. Two such persons were Paul the apostle and John Chrysostom. This study shows that text historical criticism is not without problems. The problem lays not so much in the idea of historical text criticism, but how it was and is still being applied today, it is never without bias. This use of the texts of Paul and Chrysostom who were both very outspoken on the subject of sexuality has caused great amounts of emotional and in cases also physical pain to people who misapplied historical text criticism and as Martin and others have effectively shown, any such interpretation of text that has a intention to hurt people cannot be the right method. Ancient sexuality worked and was constructed completely different from the sexuality of modernity. The way gender was appropriated in ancient times, the way sexuality was construed and applied were set against a wholly different context and set of rules than that of the current day. This becomes clear in Roman and Hellenistic sexuality that is discussed in detail in this study. Unlike modern times, the ancients did not have a simplistic two-sex model that was based on biological sex, in their world, one’s actions determined one’s sex. Both Paul and Chrysostom were very well educated people, they were aware of philosophic thought in their day and took these thoughts into account whilst saying and writing what they did. Paul was at heart a dedicated Pharisee who only later turned toward Christianity. He was well acquainted with Jewish sexual ethics; he had an absolute repulsion towards any form of desire, which he believed led to many other sins. His writings available to us should not be seen as biographies but as letters intended to be arguments with very good rhetoric and diatribe, written with the goal of achieving to convince the receiver or listener. He was extremely conservative in his viewpoint on sex, if he could have had his way, no sexual contact between any person would have existed, but he realised that not everybody had the same gifts he had. This point of view was mostly because of his eschatological worldview, for Paul when you became a 2 Christian you became a slave of God and you were no longer a slave of any passions, so much the more, the passions of the flesh. Chrysostom, who lived almost four hundred years later, had a great veneration for Paul. He basically shared all Paul’s views on sexuality, although not always for the same reasons. Chrysostom was however, in his way also eschatological. His life, like that of Paul was caught up in many confrontations, which had an influence on the way he thought and the things he had opinions on. Chrysostom, like Paul preferred the ascetic lifestyle not only for himself but for everyone, he believed that marriage accompanied death–both spiritual and physical in the end. He so much clang to the ideas of Paul, that a sort of “Paulism” developed. Chrysostom, however noble his sayings might come across did not always have the purest of motive, some of the things he did or say was to achieve a certain political goal, even if it was just to gain more power for the church. This is one aspect that should be kept in mind when studying his texts. Unfortunately, for many people, many misinterpretations, be it willingly/intentionally, many mistranslations of key words on the Bible (like the word malakos) have been made. What so ever the intention–be it to propagate popular social sexual propaganda, or whatever–this is and was not right. Like mentioned many people has experience hurt because of this. Rhetorical text analysis is being set forward as an alternative to historical text criticism in a slight but hopeful effort to overcome this problem and enable the churches of today to welcome many more Christians into their families. KEYTERMS Paul; Chrysostom; Sex; Gender; Sexuality; Gender; Desire; Ancient; Philosophy; Control; Modern; Church; Corinthians; Roman; Jewish; Eroticism; Bias; Antioch; Constantinople; Homoeroticism 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to thank my Creator, who has after many years, through the gift of enabling me to undertake these studies, granted me the wisdom to know that He/She loves me the way I was created. Should I not have had the opportunity to study, I would have remained stuck in dark ancient thought and I would have been removed from His/Her love in a way that would have caused great sadness. To all my friends and family, especially my parents, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude. Their love, encouragement, support, and patience made it possible for me to complete this difficult, though phenomenal, journey. To my dear friend Zella Nieuwoudt: Thank you for all the meaningful conversations, you’re difficult though stimulating questions and continued support. You will always remain special. To Prof Chris de Wet, my Supervisor: Thank you for encouraging me to do the archaeology of humans. You opened doors to stairways in my brain that often led to dark places which I was afraid to enter but once entered into I discovered light that was sometimes both scary and liberating. Thank you for your patience, your encouragement and believing in my abilities throughout. To my husband and soul mate Hendrik: Thank you for all the times you had to put up with my being upset about things only you would know about. Thank you for your kindness in persisting to encourage me when I was tired and sometimes really did not have the strength to read another book. Thank you for listening when I had to figure out things that made me think, sometimes for days at a time, and sometimes also had me upset for long periods of time. I love you and always will. 4 Thank you to the University of South Africa for providing me with the financial aid to complete my studies and for being an institution of such calibre where studies of this kind can be done. Thank you to the library staff that was always friendly and willing to help. God willing it would be an honour to further my studies at this institution. 5 DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this dissertation to all those who have suffered due to same- sex eros Vreemde Liefde As ek my vreemde liefde bloot moes lê, Wat sou die vrome skenders van die skoonheid sê? Sou hul, met heilige verontwaardiging, Besoedelende vingers God-waarts steek, En na dié die self-regverdigende reiniging Hul eer aan my kom wreek? Of sou ‘n sprank van hierdie vuur wat in my gloei Ook hulle aanraak, sodat hul verstaan Die liefde neem ‘n duisend vorme aan? ID du Plessis 1937 Strange Love Should my strange love be completely bared Would I, by the holy keepers of purity, be spared Or will they, in self-denial, call for retribution from their God And after such self-redeeming cleansing Avenge their honour at my expense Or, would a spark of this fire which in me glows Touch their hearts so that they will realise Love’s guises can in thousand fold materialise? Translated by Rudi Basson 2002 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION 1 SUMMARY 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4 DEDICATION 6 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 INTROCUTION AND PROBLEM STATEMENT 10 1.2 STATUS QUAESTIONIS 13 1.3 METHODOLOGY AND SOME INITTIAL PRESUMTIONS REGARDING ROMAN SEXUALITY 16 1.3.1 The Family in the Roman World 20 1.3.2 Sex, Marriage, Virginity and Self-Control: The Rise of Christianity 22 1.3.3 Activity and Passivity and the Problems of Pederasty and Stuprum 28 1.4 OVERVIEW 36 CHAPTER TWO PAUL AND SEXUAL ETHICS 2.1 INTRODUCTION: AN OVERVIEW OF PAUL’S LIFE, THOUGHT AND IDENTITY 38 2.2 SEXUALITY IN THE THOUGHT OF PAUL THE APOSTLE 45 2.2.1 Paul and Marriage, Desire and Adultery: The Case of 1 Corinthians 7 46 2.2.1.1 The Context of Corinth 47 2.2.1.2 Paul’s Sexual Discourse leading up to 1 Corinthians 7 50 2.2.1.3 Between Marriage and Celibacy: Paul’s Sexual Ethics in 1 Corinthians 7 55 2.2.1.4 The Problem of Desire, Fornication and Stuprum 61 2.2.2 Paul and Same-Sex Passion 67 2.3 CONCLUSION 75 7 CHAPTER 3 JOHN CHRYSOSTOM’S APPROPRIATION ON PAULINE SEXUAL MORALITY 3.1 INTRODUCTION 77 3.2 DYNAMICS OF SEXUAL MORALITY IN CHRISTIAN ANTIQUITY 77 3.3 MASCULINTY AND SEXUAL IDENTITY IN LATE ANTIQUITY 80 3.3.1 Virtue and Masculinity in Late Antiquity 80 3.3.2 Transcendence and the New Manliness 85 3.3.3 The Manliness of Christian Bishops 86 3.4 JOHN CHRYSOSTOM; BASIC BACKGROUND 88 3.4.1 Biographical overview 88 3.4.2 Chrysostom and Women 93 3.4.3 Chrysostom the Ascetic 95 3.5 THE APPROPRIATION OF PAULINE SEXUALITIES IN THE THOUGHT OF JOHN CHRYSOSTM 96 3.5.1 Pauline Origins of Sex in Chrysostom’s Thought 98 3.5.2 Chrysostom on Marriage 101 3.5.3 A Note on Chrysostom’s Attack on “Spiritual Marriage” 105 3.5.4 Chrysostom and the Problem of Same-Sex Passion 107 3.6 CONCLUSION 112 CHAPTER FOUR CONCLUSION APPROPRIATING AND MISSAPPROPRIATING EARLY CHRISYIAN SEXUAL MORALITIES IN MODERN TIMES 4.1 INTRODUCTION 113 4.2 MARRIAGE
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