The
history of Christianity and homosexuality has been much debated. The
Hebrew Bible and its traditional interpretations in
Judaism and
Christianity have historically affirmed and endorsed a
patriarchal and
heteronormative approach towards
human sexuality, favouring exclusively
penetrative vaginal intercourse between men and women within the boundaries of
marriage over all other forms of
human sexual activity, believing and teaching that such behaviors are forbidden because they're considered
sinful, However, the status of
LGBTQ people in
early Christianity is debated. Throughout the majority of
Christian history, most
Christian theologians and
denominations have considered homosexual behavior as
immoral or
sinful.
Biblical (1564) Following the lead of Yale scholar
John Boswell, it has been argued that a number of early Christians (such as
Saints Sergius and Bacchus) entered into homosexual relationships, and that certain Biblical figures had homosexual relationships, despite Biblical injunctions against sexual relationships between members of the same sex. Examples cited are
Ruth and her mother-in-law
Naomi,
Daniel and the court official Ashpenaz, and, most famously,
David and King
Saul's son
Jonathan. The story of
David and Jonathan has been described as "biblical Judeo-Christianity's most influential justification of
homoerotic love". The relationship between David and Jonathan is mainly covered in the
Old Testament First
Book of Samuel, as part of the story of David's ascent to power. The mainstream view found in modern biblical exegesis argues that the relationship between the two is merely a close
platonic friendship. However, a few have interpreted the love between David and Jonathan as romantic or sexual. Although David was married (to many women), he articulates a distinction between his relationship with Jonathan and the bonds he shares with women. Another biblical hero,
Noah, best known for his building an
ark to save animals and worthy people from a divinely caused
flood, later became a wine-maker. One day he drank too much wine, and fell asleep naked in his tent. When his son
Ham entered the tent, he saw his father naked, and his son,
Canaan was
cursed with banishment and possibly slavery. In Jewish tradition, it is also suggested that Ham had anal sex with Noah or castrated him.
Saints , considered by some to be the world's first
LGBTQ icon While highly controversial, attempts have been made to hold up certain Christian
saints as positive examples of homosexuality in Church history: •
Saints Sergius and Bacchus: Sergius and Bacchus's close relationship has led some modern commentators to believe they were lovers. The most popular evidence for this view is that the oldest text of their martyrology, in the Greek language, describes them as "erastai", or lovers. Historian
John Boswell considered their relationship to be an example of an early Christian
same-sex union, reflecting his contested view of
tolerant early Christians attitudes toward homosexuality. A difficulty with this assertion is that most
hagiographies list these saints as natural brothers or twins. •
Saint Sebastian has been called the world's first
gay icon. The combination of his strong, shirtless physique, the symbolism of the arrows penetrating his body, and the look on his face of rapturous pain have intrigued artists for centuries, and began the first explicitly gay cult in the 19th century.
Eunuchs The extent and even the existence of religious castration among Christians, with members of the early church castrating themselves for religious purposes, is subject to debate. The early theologian
Origen found scriptural justification for the practice in , where
Jesus says, "For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can."
(NRSV) In describing Jesus as a
spado and Paul of Tarsus as a
castratus in his book
De Monogamia,
Tertullian, a 2nd-century Church Father, used
Latin words that denoted eunuchs to refer to virginity and continence. The significance of the selection of the Ethiopian eunuch as being the first gentile convert has been discussed as representative of the inclusion of a sexual minority in the context of the time. ==Specific sexual orientations==