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

By John Boswell

"Truly groundbreaking work. Boswell reveals unexplored phenomena with an unfailing erudition."—Michel Foucault

John Boswell's National Book Award-winning study of the history of attitudes toward homosexuality in the early Christian West was a groundbreaking work that challenged preconceptions about the Church's past relationship to its gay members—among them priests, bishops, and even saints—when it was first published twenty-five years ago. The historical breadth of Boswell'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. Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality, still fiercely relevant today, helped form the disciplines of gay and gender studies, and it continues to illuminate the origins and operations of intolerance as a social force.

• Language: English
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Release date: Feb 15, 2009
• ISBN: 9780226067148

John Boswell

John Boswell is a book packager, writer and business expert who has used his verbal powers of persuasion to create and sell over 200 titles since 1972, many of them bestsellers such as French for Cats (with Henry Beard), The First Family Paper Doll and Cut-Out Book and the “365 Ways to Cook” series. He lives in New York City.

Reviews for Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality

[aulsmith · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The conclusions of this book are now controversial, but when I read it, it opened up a whole new world to me. Before reading this book, I had thought of cultures as being fairly uniform and ideas changing only over time. This made me aware that people in different circumstances can think about things very differently and that your willingness to be tolerant might have to do with your social circumstances. This informed much of my reading from then on.

[hadriantheblind · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting historical analysis claiming that recent religious intolerant attitudes towards homosexuality are only a recent invention and that the prevailing attitude, even among the early Catholic church itself, was one of tacit tolerance, following with Roman attitudes of the time.

[bibliophial · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Impressive and comprehensive. Perhaps a little weak in terms of biblical interpretation - but the history is fascinating and compelling.

[jontseng · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Impressive scholarship and depth of erudition. Highly commended to those Evangelicals who believe liberal scholarship lacks intellectual rigour.

[Luis Alexandre Ribeiro Branco · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It is an interesting book, the author makes a great effort to prove his point and to bring out of the shadows of history an account of the gay people. I found interesting the chapter about definitions. Nevertheless, I am not convinced about the historicity proposed by the writer. I found unacceptable the biblical hermeneutics approach used by the author.

[vesuvian_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Only one review? I believe this was his doctoral dissertation at Yale remade into a book. It's a scholarly work, and belongs on a continuum beginning here and ending somewhere near "Gay New York" (Chauncey), "And the Band Played On" (Shilts), "The Mayor of Castro Street" (also Shilts) and finally "Gay L.A." (Federman and Timmons). For additional reviews, jump over to amazon.com and see what better reviewers than I have to say. My point: to understand homosexuality as it exists today, a reader needs to start somewhere in the history of Western Europe and North America. Greece, Rome, and the First Nations of North America are too culturally diverse. Christianity and its fellow "book" religions are what formed the West, and Boswell is a good place to go.He's easier than Proust, by the way, and only one volume.