Title: The Boswell thesis : essays on Christianity, social tolerance, and homosexuality /
Authors: Kuefler, Mathew.
Publisher: University of Chicago Press,
Year: 2006
Subjects: Boswell, John.; Boswell, John,; Homosexuality Europe History; Homosexuality Religious aspects Christianity History.
Abstract: "Few books have had the social, cultural, and scholarly impact of John Boswell's Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality. Arguing that neither the Bible nor the Christian tradition was nearly as hostile to homoeroticism as was generally thought, its initial publication sent shock waves through university classrooms, gay communities, and religious congregations. Twenty-five years later, the aftershocks still reverberate. The Boswell Thesis brings together fifteen leading scholars at the intersection of religious and sexuality studies to comment on this book's immense impact, the endless debates it generated, and the many contributions it has made to our culture. The essays in this magnificent volume examine a variety of aspects of Boswell's interpretation of events in the development of sexuality from Classical Antiquity through the Middle Ages, including a Roman emperor's love letters to another man; suspicions of sodomy among medieval monks, knights, and crusaders; and the gender-bending visions of Christian saints and mystics. Also included are discussions of Boswell's career, including his influence among gay and lesbian Christians and his role in academic debates between essentialists and social constructionists. Elegant and thought-provoking, this collection provides a fitting twenty-fifth anniversary tribute to the incalculable influence of Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality and its author"--Publisher's description.
Contents: The Boswell thesis / by Mathew Kuefler -- John Boswell's gay science : prolegomenon to a re-reading / by Ralph Hexter -- Touching on the past / by Carolyn Dinshaw -- Reading CSTH as a call to action : Boswell and gay-affirming movements in American Christianity / by Bernard Schlager -- "Both as a Christian and as a historian" : on Boswell's ministry / by Mark D. Jordan -- Fronto + Marcus : love, friendship, letters / by Amy Richlin -- Heterosexism and the interpretation of Romans 1:18 32 / by Dale B. Martin -- My sister, my spouse : woman-identified women in medieval Christianity / by E. Ann Matter -- R.W. Southern, John Boswell, and the sexuality of Anselm / by Bruce O'Brien -- Male friendship and the suspicion of sodomy in twelfth-century France / by Mathew Kuefler -- Impossible translation : Anthony and Paul the Simple in the Historia monachorum / by Mark Masterson -- Beauty and passion in tenth-century Córdoba / by Jeffrey A. Bowman -- Sexual mutilation and castration anxiety : a medieval perspective / by Jacqueline Murray -- Knighthood, compulsory heterosexuality, and sodomy / by Ruth Mazo Karras -- The body of Gherardesca of Pisa reclothed and resexed / by Penelope D. Johnson -- Francis of Assisi as mother, father, and androgynous figure / by Catherine M. Mooney.