- Copyright Page
- List of Illustrations
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- The New Testament and Early Christian Literature in the History of Gender and Sexuality
- Feminist Biblical Interpretation
- Reconstructing Women’s History in Antiquity
- Material Culture and Historical Analysis
- Masculinity Studies
- Queer Theory
- Gender and Sexuality in Postcolonial Perspective
- Who Is the Text? The Gendered and Racialized New Testament
- “She Did That!”: Female Agency in New Testament Texts—A Womanist Response
- LGBTIQ Strategies of Interpretation
- Posthumanism
- Jewish Women’s Life and Practice in the World of the New Testament
- Hellenistic Philosophy and Literature
- Roman Imperial Culture
- Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period
- The Gospels and Acts
- Pauline Letters
- The General Epistles and Hebrews
- Revelation
- Nag Hammadi and Related Literature
- Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
- Jesus
- Mary Magdalene
- Mary, the Mother of Jesus
- Sophia
- Thecla
- Leadership Roles and Early Christian Communities
- Marriage, Adultery, and Divorce
- Procreation, Children, and Family
- Celibacy and Virginity
- Same-Sex Relations
- Sexual Slander
- Violence
- Slavery and Sexual Availability
- Prostitution
- The Resurrection Body
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter explores the issue of same-sex relations and the New Testament. It begins by surveying sexual protocols in the Roman world and situating the topic in broader biblical context. It then analyzes Romans 1:18–32, focusing especially on different scholarly approaches to this vexed and difficult text. Through a critical engagement with the work of Kyle Harper, the chapter attempts to surface and consolidate a set of interrelated interpretive issues that, so it argues, must necessarily attend any exegesis of Romans 1:18–32 that seeks to interpret the text within the larger history of sexuality. These include (1) the negotiation of continuity and difference; (2) the question of Paul’s silences; (3) the role of Judaism; and 4) the problem of the active partner.
Keywords: same-sex eros, homosexuality, Romans 1, Paul, Philo, active/passive, penetration, tribas, tribades, cinaedus
Benjamin H. Dunning is Professor of Theology, Comparative Literature, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Fordham University, New York, NY, and Bronx, NY.
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- Copyright Page
- List of Illustrations
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- The New Testament and Early Christian Literature in the History of Gender and Sexuality
- Feminist Biblical Interpretation
- Reconstructing Women’s History in Antiquity
- Material Culture and Historical Analysis
- Masculinity Studies
- Queer Theory
- Gender and Sexuality in Postcolonial Perspective
- Who Is the Text? The Gendered and Racialized New Testament
- “She Did That!”: Female Agency in New Testament Texts—A Womanist Response
- LGBTIQ Strategies of Interpretation
- Posthumanism
- Jewish Women’s Life and Practice in the World of the New Testament
- Hellenistic Philosophy and Literature
- Roman Imperial Culture
- Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period
- The Gospels and Acts
- Pauline Letters
- The General Epistles and Hebrews
- Revelation
- Nag Hammadi and Related Literature
- Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
- Jesus
- Mary Magdalene
- Mary, the Mother of Jesus
- Sophia
- Thecla
- Leadership Roles and Early Christian Communities
- Marriage, Adultery, and Divorce
- Procreation, Children, and Family
- Celibacy and Virginity
- Same-Sex Relations
- Sexual Slander
- Violence
- Slavery and Sexual Availability
- Prostitution
- The Resurrection Body
- Index