An Unfinished Reformation Susan Gilchrist
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An Unfinished Reformation Susan Gilchrist Abstract One of the aims of the Reformation Movement of 16th Century was to return to the teaching of the bible alone. This included a rejection of later traditions that had been adopted by the Church. These reformers took Augustine as a frame of reference. Although they rejected many of the Church traditions which Augustine had endorsed, they continued to maintain, and may have reinforced the doctrines of an exclusive heterosexual orthodoxy, which included the abhorrence of homosexuality and other gender and sexually variant behaviour that had been propagated by the Church. There were many doctrinal changes which the Church had adopted in regard to the positions of women, in the attitudes to gender complementarity and to gender and sexual variance during the first three centuries of its existence. This analysis uses the results of recent research work on gender dysphoria and personality development as a tool for re-considering the historical backgrounds and the reasons for these changes. The history of the Church is examined from two perspectives, one of these works back through the Church traditions, and the second traces forward from the Jewish and the Greco/Roman backgrounds to review the social and the moral traditions which were the sources from which the Apostolic Church developed. It is shown that for the Church to be able to make the breakthrough from a minority and a subject Jewish sect into the universal religion of a dominant society, an initial period of true gender equality and transcendence is required, and without that period that transition could not have happened. It is also shown how and why the Church later came to adopt the form of gender complementarity practiced by the surrounding Greco/Roman society in place of the gender transcendence which is present in the Gospel itself. It is further indicated how the Christian Church first continued, and the ways in which it later changed the Jewish traditions on sexual and gender variance. It is also shown that a major disconnect occurred during these first three centuries and that what in the present day is regarded as the traditional teaching of the Church on homosexuality and on sexual and gender variance is not the same as that of the Gospel Church. The reasons for these changes and the processes which led to this disconnect are studied with reference to the contemporary literature and bible texts. The results of this analysis challenge many of the traditional doctrines which the Church has adopted on the roles of women, gender complementarity and to gender and sexual variance. In certain Churches the social changes of the last fifty years have promoted a re-evaluation of Christian teaching but this has also resulted in a retrenchment into literalism and to fundamentalism in others. This study supports this re-evaluation and gives historical and theological support to the changes that are now being made. The sixteenth century reformers could not have carried out this re- evaluation since the knowledge and resources were then not available to them. This analysis provides new insights into the crises about gender and sexuality which are faced by the present day Christian Church. It is hoped that this study can make the Reformation a little more complete. Gilchrist, S. (2013). “An Unfinished Reformation”. 1 First Issued: 1 April 2013. Last update: 12 December 2013. Draft: Printed: 11/01/2014 Access via: http://www.gndr.org.uk/transgender/index.htm [email protected] An Unfinished Reformation Susan Gilchrist Contents Click on the title to go to an item. Part 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................5 1:1 Overview .............................................................................................................5 1:1:1 Respectability and the Christian Church ...................................... 5 1:1:2 Social Dynamics .......................................................................... 9 1:1:3 Changing Perceptions................................................................ 13 1:2 Principles of Analysis......................................................................................13 1:2:1 Gender and Sexual Variation..................................................... 13 1:2:3 Physiology and Psychology ....................................................... 17 1:2:4 Misconceptions .......................................................................... 20 1:2:5 Disasters.................................................................................... 20 1:2:6 Condemnation ........................................................................... 21 1:3 Cultures and Compromise ..............................................................................22 1:3:1 Summary ................................................................................... 22 1:3:2: Current Consequences ............................................................. 25 1:3:3: Making the Choice .................................................................... 26 1:3:4 Seeking a Change ..................................................................... 27 Part 2: Reform and the Organised Church...........................................................31 2:1 The Reformation...............................................................................................31 2:1:1 Historical Attitudes ..................................................................... 32 2:1:2 Celibacy, Marriage and Sex....................................................... 33 2:1:3 Gender and Sexuality ................................................................ 36 2:1:4 Attitudes to Church Authority ..................................................... 37 2:1:5 Augustine and the Reform Tradition .......................................... 37 2:1:6 Luther Aristotle and Aquinas...................................................... 41 2:1:7 The Development of Current Day Attitudes ............................... 42 2:1:8 Summary ................................................................................... 43 2:2 Social Consequences ......................................................................................43 2:2:1 History........................................................................................ 43 2:2:2 Theology .................................................................................... 46 Gilchrist, S. (2013). “An Unfinished Reformation”. 2 First Issued: 1 April 2013. Last update: 12 December 2013. Draft: Printed: 11/01/2014 Access via: http://www.gndr.org.uk/transgender/index.htm [email protected] 2:2:3 Grace, Revolution, Justification and Sanctification .................... 46 2:2:4 Gender Equality ......................................................................... 48 2:2:5 Gender Discrimination ............................................................... 50 2:2:6 Sexual Abuse............................................................................. 53 2:2:7 Celibacy and Abuse................................................................... 55 2:2:8 Gender Complementarity and Gender Transcendence ............. 56 2:2:9 Discipline or Doctrine? ............................................................... 57 2:3 Adaptation and Regeneration .........................................................................57 2:3:1 Rationalisation ........................................................................... 57 2:3:2 Transition and Resistance ......................................................... 58 2:3:3 The Genderisation of God.......................................................... 61 2:3:4 An Apocryphal Challenge .......................................................... 67 2:3:5 Tracing Forward and Tracing Back............................................ 70 2:3:6 Framework of Analysis............................................................... 71 2:3:7 Credibility ................................................................................... 71 Part 3: Relationships and the Early Church.........................................................73 3:1 First Century Attitudes ....................................................................................73 3:1:1 Duality........................................................................................ 73 3:1:2 First Century Greek and Roman Attitudes ................................. 76 3:1:3 Boundaries of Acceptability: Power and Sex ............................. 79 3:1:4 Gender and Transcendence ...................................................... 85 3:1:5: Social Transformation ............................................................... 86 3:1:6: Christianity and the Goddess Cults........................................... 88 3:1:7: Power and its Usurpation.......................................................... 89 3:1:8: Cultural Transformations........................................................... 92 3:1:9 Celibacy ..................................................................................... 97 3:2 Gender and Sexual Variation in the Early Church.........................................99 3:2:1 Transgender Relationships and Marriage .................................. 99 3:2:2 Homosexuality and Same-Sex Relationships .......................... 101 3:2:3 Same-Sex Love ....................................................................... 103 3:2:5 Adelphopoiesis or “Brother Making”........................................