Therefore it would make logical sense, considering the mass conversion to Christianity that followed the emperor Constantine much later than the documentation here, that Christian views and beliefs shaped an extremely large amount of the modern concepts that exist in the world today.
It is important to note the context in which early Christian writer Paul spoke of homoeroticism, particularly in his letter to the Romans, which is argued by sociologist Jeramy Townsley to not really be about homoeroticism at all. Instead Townsley argues in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion that Romans 1:26-27 actually references specific practices of the goddess cult in ancient Rome. These practices were broken into two separate categories, the first was the male practice of self-castration as a statement of dedication to the goddess, and the second was temple prostitution, which was believed by the women who participated to be an offering to the goddess and to bring the goddess’ good will to them though the practice. Several early Christian writers connect these verses in Romans to the goddess cult rather than homoeroticism, including Hippolytus, in Philosophumena …show more content…
Acknowledging that the degradation of female homoeroticism by elite males was a response to social reality and that male homoeroticism was, widely, regarded by early Christians mostly in its association with polytheism and idolatry, makes scholars less prone to assumptions which place their own modern sexuality onto a historical people who could have, and often did, recognize sexual acts and orientations very differently than someone from modern times
It is important to note the context in which early Christian writer Paul spoke of homoeroticism, particularly in his letter to the Romans, which is argued by sociologist Jeramy Townsley to not really be about homoeroticism at all. Instead Townsley argues in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion that Romans 1:26-27 actually references specific practices of the goddess cult in ancient Rome. These practices were broken into two separate categories, the first was the male practice of self-castration as a statement of dedication to the goddess, and the second was temple prostitution, which was believed by the women who participated to be an offering to the goddess and to bring the goddess’ good will to them though the practice. Several early Christian writers connect these verses in Romans to the goddess cult rather than homoeroticism, including Hippolytus, in Philosophumena …show more content…
Acknowledging that the degradation of female homoeroticism by elite males was a response to social reality and that male homoeroticism was, widely, regarded by early Christians mostly in its association with polytheism and idolatry, makes scholars less prone to assumptions which place their own modern sexuality onto a historical people who could have, and often did, recognize sexual acts and orientations very differently than someone from modern times