Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality : Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century / John Boswell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Boswell, John, 1947-1994, author.

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Homosexuality--Europe--History--To 1500.

Homosexuality.

Homosexuality--Religious aspects--Christianity--History.

Christianity--history.

Homosexuality--history.

Homosexuality--Religious aspects--Christianity.

History.

Europe.

Homosexuality--Religious aspects --.

Christianity--History.

Medical Subjects:

Christianity--history.

Homosexuality--history.

Europe.

Local Subjects:

Homosexuality--Europe--History--To 1500.

Homosexuality--Religious aspects --.

Christianity--History.

Genre:

History.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

xviii, 424 pages, 6 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm

regular print

Place of Publication:

Chicago ; London : University of Chicago Press, 1980.

Summary:

This study of the history of attitudes toward homosexuality in the early Christian West challenged preconceptions about the Church's past relationship to its gay members, among them priests, bishops, and even saints. The historical breadth of the author's research (from the Greeks to Aquinas) and the variety of sources consulted make this one of the most extensive treatments of any single aspect of Western social history. This book helped form the disciplines of gay and gender studies, and it continues to illuminate the origins and operations of intolerance as a social force.

Contents:

Introduction

Definitions

Rome: the foundation

The scriptures

Christians and social change

Theological traditions

The early Middle Ages

The urban revival

The triumph of Ganymede: gay literature of the high Middle Ages

Social change: making enemies

Intellectual change: men, beasts, and "nature"

Conclusions.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 403-409) and indexes.

Stonewall Book Award, Winner, 1981

Local Notes:

Gotham Book Mart Collection copy has dustjacket retained.

ISBN:

0226067106

9780226067100

0226067114

9780226067117

OCLC:

4774928

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description