Citation

Greenberg DF, Bystryn MH. Am. J. Sociol. 1982; 88(3): 515-548.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1982, University of Chicago Press)

DOI

10.1086/227706

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

From late antiquity to the Middle Ages there was historical variability in Christian responses to homosexuality --ranging from mild disapprobation or ridicule to imprisonment and execution (Matignon 1899; Carpenter 1919; Ford and Beach 1951; Karlen 1971; Dover 1974, 1978; Bullough 1976; Katz 1976; Trumbach 1977; Ungaretti 1978; Boswell 1980; Bremmer 1980).. This paper traces Christian intolerance of homosexuality to the ascetic movements that arose from the social crises of the ancient Mediterranean world and to the Gregorian reforms of the medieval Church.