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Christians have sometimes suggested that homosexual practice is universally condemned. In Homosexuality and Civilization, Louis Crompton, Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Nebraska and a longtime gay activist, shows that homosexuality was common and accepted in various forms in ancient Greece and Rome, as well as in China and Japan prior to the modern period. This is not an "every creative person was secretly homosexual" kind of book. Crompton is careful with his evidence, and he challenges some of the central conclusions of the late John Boswell, the most prominent of homosexual activist historians, who argued that early Christianity was never fundamentally hostile to homosexuality. Crompton demonstrates that the West's prohibition of homosexual practice, and the severe punishments dealt out to offenders, are not the historical norm but the historical exception. Boswell notwithstanding, he shows that this Western difference is entirely due to the influence of Jewish and Christian sexual morality, derived from the Jewish and Christian Bibles. Civil penalties against homosexuals spring primarily from Leviticus 20, which "became the model for laws decreeing capital punishment for homosexuality in Europe and in as much of the world as came under Europe's sway, down to the end of the eighteenth century." Compton's animus toward Christian sexual morality sometimes gets in the way of his historical judgment, most egregiously in his penchant for drawing lines of influence from the church to the Nazis. Yet, the book is useful for clarifying where we stand on this central issue of public morality. Homosexuality and Civilization demonstrates that opposition to the homosexual agenda must stand on the Bible, or it will not stand at all.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, March 27, 2004 at 05:58 PM
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1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary
The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter
A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons
Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature
Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen
The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism
A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel
From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution
Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy
Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper
A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament
Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature
Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays
Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life
The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church
