Clerical continence in twelfth-century England and Byzantium: property, family, and purity
"Why did the medieval West condemn clerical marriage as an abomination while the Byzantine Church affirmed its sanctifying nature? This book brings together ecclesiastical, legal, social, and cultural history in order to examine how Byzantine and Western medieval ecclesiastics made sense of the...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Print Book |
| Language: | English |
| Subito Delivery Service: | Order now. |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
London New York, NY
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
2019
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| In: | Year: 2019 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
England
/ Byzantine Empire
/ Clergy
/ Sexuality
/ Sexual behavior
/ History 1100-1200
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| IxTheo Classification: | RG Pastoral care |
| Further subjects: | B
Orthodox Eastern Church
Clergy
Sexual behavior
History To 1500
B Celibacy Christianity History of doctrines Middle Ages, 600-1500 B Celibacy Catholic Church History To 1500 B Celibacy Orthodox Eastern Church History To 1500 B Catholic Church Clergy England B Celibacy Christianity History of doctrines Middle Ages, 600-1500 B Church History 12th century B Orthodoxos Ekklēsia tēs Hellados Clergy Byzantine Empire B Thesis B Catholic Church Clergy Sexual behavior (England) History To 1500 |
| Summary: | "Why did the medieval West condemn clerical marriage as an abomination while the Byzantine Church affirmed its sanctifying nature? This book brings together ecclesiastical, legal, social, and cultural history in order to examine how Byzantine and Western medieval ecclesiastics made sense of their different rules of clerical continence. Western ecclesiastics condemned clerical marriage for three key reasons: married clerics could alienate ecclesiastical property for the sake of their families; they could secure positions in the Church for their sons, restricting ecclesiastical offices and lands to specific families; and they could pollute the sacred by officiating after having had sex with their wives. A comparative study shows that these offending risk factors were absent in Byzantium: clerics below the episcopate did not have enough access to ecclesiastical resources to put the Church at financial risk; clerical dynasties were understood within a wider frame of valued friendship networks; and sex within clerical marriage was never called impure, as there was no drive to use pollution discourses to separate clergy and laity. These facts are symptomatic of a much wider difference between West and East, impinging on ideas about social order, moral authority, and reform"-- Episcopal finances -- Finances of clergy below the episcopate -- Clerical dynasties -- Bodily secretions and the sacred -- Was clerical marriage polluting? |
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| Item Description: | Includes bibliographical references and index |
| ISBN: | 1138495131 |